title: Association Between Breast Reconstruction Surgery and Quality of Life in Iranian Breast Cancer Patients.
abstract: Breast reconstruction (BR) surgery is not common for the treatment of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries, including Iran. We evaluated the quality of life (QoL) in Iranian breast cancer patients who underwent BR at the Cancer Institute of Iran. We compared patients who had BR with breast cancer patients who had a radical mastectomy as the control group, matched for age, and time since surgery. We interviewed the cases and controls and collected data about QoL using EORTC-Q30 and EORTC-Q23 questionnaires. We also obtained personal and clinical data for the patients and controls. We compared 61 BR and 45 radical mastectomy patients. The BR patients had a higher level of education (73.8%) than the mastectomy patients (27.3%). In addition, the BR patients had a higher employment rate (58%) than the mastectomy patients (4.4%). QoL was significantly better among BR patients compared to the control group (P<0.05). In the multivariable analyses, the BR patients had significantly lower scores of pain, fatigue, and diarrhoea than the controls. Breast cancer patients who underwent BR surgery had a higher quality of life scores in some domains compared to the radical mastectomy. Socioeconomic factors and awareness of the patients about BR was crucial for choosing BR among Iranian patients.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. AND Students' Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sinaei
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zendehdel
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. AND Students' Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahsa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adili
authors.affiliation: Students' Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Atefeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ardestani
authors.affiliation: Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research (IHSR), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montazeri
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mohagheghi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D016462:Mammaplasty / Q000379:methods*; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Breast cancer; Breast reconstruction; Mastectomy; Quality of life; Satisfaction