The effect of immediate breast reconstruction with Becker-25 prosthesis on the preservation of proper body posture in patients after mastectomy.

PURPOSE: This was a prospective study comparing coronal, sagittal and transverse plane body posture parameters in women after radical mastectomy and women after radical mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) for stage I and II breast cancer.
METHODS: The three studied groups were one that underwent Madden's radical mastectomy (n = 38), a second with skin sparing mastectomy with IBR with expander-prosthesis Becker-25 (n = 38), and the control (n = 38). All the women were examined to determine their body posture in the coronal, sagittal and transverse planes using three-dimensional (3D) body surface analysis before and 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after surgery.
RESULTS: There is a significant difference body posture in the coronal, sagittal and transverse planes between groups of patients after mastectomy with IBR comparing with patients after mastectomy alone. The women after radical mastectomy demonstrated the greatest postural changes in particular parameters of body posture in postsurgical months 18 and 24. The IBR group only demonstrated significant postural changes in one parameter, though as time after surgery increased, these changes decreased.
CONCLUSIONS: IBR after mastectomy has an impact on proper body posture. Photogrammetric examination revealed important body posture disturbances only in the radical mastectomy group. It gives useful information on body posture parameters in the evaluation of quality of life in breast cancer survivors. It appears that immediate breast reconstruction helps to preserve proper body posture after mastectomy.