Breast imaging and biopsy in women after therapeutic mammoplasty: comparison with women after wide local excision

Therapeutic mammoplasty (TM) is being increasingly performed to allow breast conservation in women with breasts suitable for some form of breast reduction.

This study was performed to compare the ipsilateral post-operative mammography findings, frequency of ultrasound and image-guided biopsy post-TM with a group of women who had undergone wide local excision (WLE).

Ninety-one women post-TM were compared with 86 women post-WLE. All women had intact breast irradiation and were of similar age (mean age 57 years and 56 years, respectively), had had at least one post-operative mammogram and the same surgeon was present at all operations (DM).

The presence and type of mammographic calcification, and focal and generalised reaction were noted as were ultrasound (US) examination and image guided biopsies. The chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for statistical analysis.

The average length of follow-up in the WLE group was longer than in the TM group (5.3 years versus 2.9 years). Rates of postoperative site mammographic calcification and calcification requiring image-guided biopsy were similar in both groups (31 of 86 (36%) versus 31 of 91 (34%) and 2 (2%) versus 2 (2%), respectively. Rates of US and image-guided biopsy were also similar: 26 of 86 (30%) versus 23 of 91 (25%) and 10 of 98 (12%) versus 9 of 91 (10%), respectively. Having corrected for length of follow-up, no statistically significant difference in the frequency of features analysed was observed.

TM is not associated with greater post-operative mammographic calcification, US examinations or image-guided biopsy.