Abstract PO2-22-12: Patient-reported outcomes 3 and 18 months after prepectoral implant-based breast reconstruction: Results from the UK Pre-BRA multicentre prospective cohort study
Authors: Johnson Leigh , Harvey Kate , Sinai Parisa , Mills Nicola , White Paul , Holcombe Chris , Potter Shelley 
Published: May 2024

Background: Prepectoral implant-based reconstruction (PPBR) with and without mesh is becoming the standard of care for prosthetic reconstruction in the UK. In addition to being easier and quicker to perform, the procedure is perceived to be associated with better patient-centred outcomes including decreased post-operative pain, avoidance of animation deformity and improved cosmesis. Evidence to support these benefits, however, is lacking. The UK PreBRA prospective multicentre cohort study (ISRCTN11898000) aimed to assess patient-reported outcomes (PROs) before and 3 and 18 months following PPBR to provide much needed evidence to support the effectiveness of the technique.

Methods: Women aged 18 or over undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer or risk-reduction who opted to have PPBR between July 2019 and December 2020 were eligible to participate in the study. Demographic, operative, oncology and three-month complication data were collected. Participants were asked to complete the validated BREAST-Q questionnaire at before surgery and at 3 and 18 months following the procedure. Questionnaires were scored according to the developers’ instructions and scores compared over time. Exploratory analysis of covariance, adjusting for baseline scores was performed to explore factors impacting PROs following PPBR.

Results: 347 women underwent PPBR at 40 centres across the UK. Of these, 334 (96.3%) completed PROMs at baseline with 237 (68.3%) completing at least two of the three main BREAST-Q scales at both 3 and 18 months. The median age of the cohort was 49 (range 23-74). Most women (n=291, 87.1%) had mastectomy for malignancy with a quarter (n=82, 24.6%) undergoing bilateral surgery. Approximately a fifth (n=68, 20.4%) had a body mass index &gt;30 and 12% (n=40) were active smokers at the time of surgery. At 3 months, 68 (20.4%) had experienced a complication requiring readmission and/or re-operation and 27 (8.1%) experienced an implant loss.

In the cohort overall, women undergoing PPBR reported slight increases in their ‘Satisfaction with Breasts’ scores from baseline to 3 months after surgery but by 18 months, their scores had fallen below baseline values (Table 1). ‘Physical well-being’ scores decreased from baseline to 3 months but then remained stable. No changes were seen in ‘Psychosocial well-being’ scores across the three timepoints.

At 18 months, after adjusting for baseline BREAST Q scores, women having surgery for risk-reduction reported scores that were 10-16 points lower than those having surgery for malignancy across all four main domains for the BREAST-Q. This exceeded the minimum clinically meaningful difference and was highly statistically significant. Women with high mastectomy weights ( &gt;600g) reported lower scores for ‘Physical’, ‘Psychosocial’ and ‘Sexual’ well-being but not ‘Satisfaction with Breasts’. Smoking adversely impacted ‘Psychosocial well-being’ and ‘Satisfaction with Breasts’ and women with BMI &gt;30 reported lower ‘Physical well-being’ scores at 18 months. Having a major complication requiring readmission/re-operation did not affect BREAST-Q scores, but when considered separately, implant loss dramatically impacted all BREAST-Q domains

Conclusions: Women having PPBR report short-term improvements in ‘Satisfaction with Breasts’ scores but these are not maintained over time and decrease to below baseline 18 months after surgery. ‘Physical well-being’ also decreased after PPBR despite no disruption to the pectoralis muscle. Women having surgery for risk-reduction reported the worse PROs. Further work is needed to establish the long-term patient-reported outcomes of PPBR and factors impacting these.

Citation Format: Leigh Johnson, Kate Harvey, Parisa Sinai, Nicola Mills, Paul White, Chris Holcombe, Shelley Potter. Patient-reported outcomes 3 and 18 months after prepectoral implant-based breast reconstruction: Results from the UK Pre-BRA multicentre prospective cohort study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO2-22-12.