According to a study presented by plastic surgeons at the 2005 American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery conference in Chicago, women who undergo immediate breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy are not at an increased risk for cancer recurrence. Should breast cancer return, this study shows that reconstructive breast implants do not delay the diagnosis or adversely affect the outcome. This is great news for women who choose to have implant-based reconstructive breast surgery.

Andrea Pusic, a board-certified plastic surgeon and co-author of this study, acknowledges that women are presented with a lot of information about their options following a mastectomy. “It is important for [plastic surgeons] to provide them with hard facts that show an implant does not increase the chance that their cancer could recur, delay the diagnosis of a recurrence or affect the outcome.” She continues by saying that plastic surgeons want to help their patients feel better about their bodies without having to compromise their health and safety.

In the breast reconstruction study, Dr. Pusic and colleagues compared a group of 309 women who received immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy with 309 women who had undergone mastectomy without implant-based reconstructive surgery. Researchers found that women with reconstructive surgery did not have a greater risk of cancer recurrence than women without implants (6.8 and 8.1 percent incidence of recurrence, respectively). The study also found that having implants did not hinder the detection of recurrence or the treatment of the recurring breast cancer. Removal of the implants was not necessary for treating the recurring cancer.

According to the ASPS, nearly 63,000 women underwent reconstructive breast surgery after mastectomy in 2004. The American Cancer Society predicts that more than 211,000 women will develop invasive breast cancer in 2005.