Mastectomy patient quality of life with external prosthesis

View Having a potentially life-threatening disease like cancer often leads people to examine their lives and look for meaning. In fact, this search for meaning may be the aspect of cancer that most often has a positive influence on life.

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Quality of Life After Breast Cancer Surgery With or Without Reconstruction

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract In the modern era, where breast-conserving surgery is a viable alternative to mastectomy, breast cancer patients and their healthcare providers have to consider the issue of quality of life in regards to the type of surgery.

The choice of surgical procedure should consider the perceptions of women diagnosed with breast cancer as well as their functional and emotional well-being.

A more holistic approach to the patient should be implemented with proper psychological evaluation before and psychological support after the crisis. Breast cancer is a major health issue in modern society. The National Cancer Institute estimates that Until the role of women in society and views on sexuality dramatically changed in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, breast reconstruction was considered merely vain 6 and performed in a troubled subset of cancer patients.

This trend has spawned efforts to assess the efficacy of these treatment modalities, taking into account not only mortality rates and reconstructive techniques but patients' satisfaction rates and quality of life QOL as well.

As Donabedian argued more than 30 years ago, the ultimate valuator for quality of care is its effectiveness in achieving or producing health and satisfaction. In today's increasingly competitive healthcare marketplace, the issue of measuring the quality of care given to patients, as well as the QOL they derive from it, has become a topic of considerable interest and controversy among healthcare providers as well as patients.

In this work, we attempt to highlight the perceptions of breast cancer survivors in regards to changes in their QOL after being diagnosed with breast cancer, as well as following their medical treatment, including surgery, chemo-radiotherapy, or both.

The concept of body image, which is closely related to health-related QOL, will also be discussed. In addition, citations within obtained papers were scrutinized to identify additional studies. The term originates from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, dating back to bc, in which he recognizes the relation between QOL, happiness, and the subjective values of the individual Aristotle, — bc.

There is a wide and multidimensional definition for QOL, which relies heavily on patients' sex, age, ethnicity, and religious beliefs. It encompasses personal tastes, hobbies, experiences, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs, all of which can be divided into 4 primary categories, physical and occupational, psychosocial, social, and somatic.

Reliable and valid patient questionnaires are essential for aesthetic and reconstructive breast surgeons. Reliability, validity, and responsiveness are prerequisites for an ideal patient-reported outcome questionnaire, as outlined by the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Medical Outcomes Trust.

Only 1 QOL assessment tool, the Breast-Related Symptoms Questionnaire, demonstrated adequate development and validation in its target population, despite having significant limitations.

After examining women with breast cancer, Yurek et al 22 reported that patients treated with reconstructive surgery had lower rates of sexual activity and fewer signs of sexual responsiveness than those who had mastectomy or lumpectomy alone.

An even broader study, surveying breast cancer surviving patients, suggested more positive QOL-related outcomes with women who underwent lumpectomy rather than mastectomy with or without reconstruction.

However, the reconstruction group had a less than expected benefit on body image and they were more likely to feel that breast cancer had a negative impact on their sex lives.

The fear of recurrence mentioned above is a parameter that affects all patients, irrespective of the treatment type. This parameter seems to affect QOL assessment more than the choice of surgery. A possible explanation for this finding might be that the stage of the disease was the driving force behind the decision to undergo mastectomy alone, precluding these patients from considering breast-conserving surgery.

On the contrary, women who underwent breast reconstruction experienced greater mood disturbances as well as poorer feelings of well-being following surgery, an effect that persisted for 18 months after surgery.

The postoperative pain, length of surgery and the length of hospitalization, and the absence from everyday activities tend to be greater with breast reconstruction. The fact that these factors impart a detrimental effect on QOL, especially in the short term, may be responsible for those findings.

However, systemic adjuvant chemotherapeutic treatment was associated with poorer functioning on several aspects of QOL.

Moreover, the premature onset of menopausal symptoms and ovarian failure propagated by the chemotherapy can cause disruption in the sexual lives of younger women, 36 thus confounding results.

The persistence of QOL disruption over time, 3736 along with the finding that social support decreases over time, 38 indicates the need for long-term patient support beyond the initial phase of diagnosis and surgery.

Several studies have tried to compare different kinds of breast-reconstruction techniques regarding their effects on QOL. In a group of 63 patients who underwent breast reconstruction, 36 with pedicled flaps and 27 with free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flaps TRAMno difference was reported between the 2 subgroups with regards to HRQOL.Of all mastectomy patients, 90% will use an external prosthesis where the standard of care uses a stock prosthesis that is purchased “off the shelf.” Our objectives were to determine patient demand for and perceived value of a custom breast prosthesis.

The information obtained will influence.

Unilateral breast reconstruction after mastectomy – patient satisfaction, aesthetic outcome and quality of life Alexander A.

Juhla, Søren Christensenb, Robert Zachariaeb and Tine E. Damsgaarda of life (QoL) with external breast prosthesis [2]. Currently.

Post-Mastectomy Prosthesis | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library

Majority of women after immediate breast reconstruction live their life with acceptable quality and a lower incidence of psychological morbidity. Quality of life, Breast reconstruction, Mastectomy. Forty five women who consented to join the study completed the questionnaires before operation, three months after operation and than 6 months later.

Factors influencing utilization and satisfaction with external breast prosthesis in patients with mastectomy: A systematic review further studies should be undertaken in China in order to develop effective service modalities in order to improve quality of life of patients.

Comfort emerged as one of the main factors influencing. Quality of life was assessed after diagnosis (baseline) and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after baseline by using the Mischel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Profile of Mood States, and.

The Boston keratoprosthesis conferred an exponential improvement in utility and patient quality of life, the study authors said.