Thirty-day postoperative morbidity in patients with breast cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: Early post-operative complications for patients having partial and total mastectomies after neoadjuvant chemotherapy have not been well defined. The objective was to compare post-operative complication rates among patients treated with partial mastectomy (PM), unilateral mastectomy (UM), and bilateral mastectomy (BM) after NAC.

Study design: 398 patients with breast cancer who had NAC from 2008 to 2016 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. The primary outcome measure was 30-day post-operative morbidity.

Results: 125 patients (31.4%) underwent PM, 107 patients (26.9%) UM, and 166 (41.7%) BM. There was no significant difference among the 3 groups with respect to histology (ductal: 96.0% PM, 88.8% UM, 92.6% BM, p = 0.161). Groups were similar with respect to estrogen receptor positivity (overall 58.8%, p = 0.331) and triple negative biomarker status (overall 23.9%, p = 0.559). The PM group had a higher rate of HER2 positive disease (n = 58, 47.5%, p = 0.012). Patients who underwent PM had a lower clinical T Stage at presentation (p=<0.001), fewer axillary lymph node dissections (n = 32, 25.6%, p=<0.001), and a higher rate of pathologic complete response (n = 48, 38.4%, p = 0.037) compared with patients who underwent mastectomies. Overall, 52 patients (13.1%) had a complication within the 30 day post-operative period. 30-day complication rates were significantly higher in the BM group compared to the PM group: 6.4% (n = 8) for PM, 12.2% (n = 13) for UM, and 18.7% (n = 31) for BM, (p = 0.008). 30-day readmission rates were significantly higher in the BM group compared to the PM group (overall 4.5%; 0.8% PM, 2.8% UM, 8.4% BM, p = 0.004).

Conclusion: Bilateral mastectomy is associated with higher rates of 30-day morbidity and re-admissions compared to partial mastectomy, but not unilateral mastectomy in patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Keywords: 30-Day complications; Bilateral mastectomy; Breast operations; Morbidity; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Partial mastectomy; Unilateral mastectomy.