Impact of mastectomy for breast cancer on spinal curvature: Considerations when treating patients with scoliosis.
Breast J
; 26(10): 1973-1979, 2020 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32841452
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Mastectomy has been shown to influence body posture in women; however, there are limited data outlining changes in spine curvature after mastectomy in patients with scoliosis. We sought to quantify changes in spine curvature after mastectomy for breast cancer.METHODS:
We conducted a retrospective review of 62 patients with scoliosis who underwent mastectomy for breast cancer at a single institution between 1995 and 2018. Preoperative and postoperative radiographs were used to measure Cobb angles to assess lateral spinal curvature. Changes in Cobb angle were compared using paired two-tailed t-tests. The relationship between mass of breast removed and changes in Cobb angle was modeled using a linear regression.RESULTS:
The median follow-up after mastectomy was 7.9 years (range 0.9-21.5). Median age was 62 years (range 30-85). Of 62 patients, 10 (16%) expressed that their back pain became worse after mastectomy. Nineteen patients had evaluable radiographs before and after mastectomy. In these patients, the average change in Cobb angle was 4.7° (range -0.2-12.2). Cobb angle significantly increased after mastectomy (P < .0001). Although not statistically significant, average Cobb angle was greater for patients who underwent unilateral compared to bilateral mastectomy (P = .09). Mass of breast removed significantly correlated with the difference in Cobb angle for patients who underwent unilateral mastectomy (P = .0006), but not for bilateral mastectomy (P = .55).CONCLUSIONS:
In this understudied patient population, mastectomy significantly increased the change in spine curvature. Further care should be taken to assess patient-reported pain and quality of life in patients with spine morbidity who undergo mastectomy for breast cancer.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Scoliosis
/
Breast Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Breast J
Journal subject:
NEOPLASIAS
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States