Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Multicenter Study
Does patient satisfaction with breast reconstruction change over time? Two-year results of the Michigan Breast Reconstruction Outcomes Study.
Previously, we found patient satisfaction with breast reconstruction at postoperative year 1 significantly higher in the autogenous tissue compared with the expander/implant population. But breast reconstructive procedures have different "aging" processes, and the point at which outcomes stabilize is unclear. So we evaluated patient satisfaction with breast reconstruction at postoperative year 2 and compared the results with those from our previous study. ⋯ At postoperative year 2, procedural differences initially found in women's general satisfaction with breast reconstruction diminish. Specifically, women with pedicle TRAM flaps, free TRAM flaps, and expander/implants had similar levels of general satisfaction. But at year 2, patients continue to be more esthetically satisfied with autogenous tissue than with expander/implant reconstructions.