Skin-sparing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction: A 10-year, single surgeon review of 105 consecutive patients

Skin-sparing mastectomy with immediate reconstruction is a newer approach for the treatment of primary carcinoma of the breast which avoids many of the problems seen in patients undergoing linear incision mastectomies. One hundred five patients who underwent 143 skin-sparing mastectomies during the 10-year interval from 1985 to 1995 were reviewed, with average follow-up of 8 years and 4 months (minimum follow-up 4 years and 11 months). Local recurrences occurred in four patients (3.8%), two with stage 0 disease, one with stage I, and one with stage II. The average interval to local recurrence was 6 years and 3 months. Ten patients (8.6%) died of breast cancer, including one of the local recurrence patients. These figures are in general agreement with other published breast cancer data, supporting the oncologic safety of the skin-sparing mastectomy approach. © Springer-Verlag 2002.