title: Objective assessment of aesthetic outcomes of breast cancer treatment: measuring ptosis from clinical photographs.
abstract: The aesthetic outcome of breast cancer treatment is an important factor in breast cancer survivors' quality of life. We investigated new quantitative, objective measurements of breast ptosis based on ratios of distances between fiducial points manually identified in oblique and lateral clinical photographs. Ptosis refers to the extent to which the nipple is lower than the inframammary fold. The new objective measures were compared to ratings made using an existing subjective scale. The variability in the objective measurements due to intra- and inter-observer variability in marking fiducial points was shown to be equivalent to less than one point on the subjective ptosis scale.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Min Soon
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Reece
authors.forename: Elisabeth K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Beahm
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: E Neely
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: Mia K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Markey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010781:Photography; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures