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Factors associated with the desire to undergo post-mastectomy breast reconstruction in a Mexican breast cancer center

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the proportion of breast cancer patients treated with total mastectomy who are interested in undergoing breast reconstruction, the factors associated with their desire to undergo this procedure, and the motives stated for their decision.

Methods

Women with stage I–III breast cancer, public health insurance, and history of total mastectomy treated at a center in Monterrey, Mexico, were invited to answer a series of questionnaires regarding their clinical and demographic characteristics, information received about breast reconstruction, body image, and relationship satisfaction.

Results

A total of 100 patients were interviewed, of which 68% desired to undergo breast reconstruction. Only 35% recalled talking about this procedure with a physician and 85% claimed not to have enough information to make an informed decision. Those who desired breast reconstruction were younger (p < 0.001), more likely to be in a relationship (p = 0.025), and had a higher probability of having talked to a physician about the procedure (p = 0.019). Furthermore, they felt less sexually attractive (p < 0.001), more deformed (p = 0.006), and less feminine (p = 0.005) since the mastectomy. The main motives to undergo this procedure were to have breast symmetry and greater freedom on which clothes to wear, while the main deterrent was the high economical cost.

Conclusions

Insufficient information about the procedure and high economical cost were identified as potential barriers to undergo breast reconstruction. The findings of this study emphasize the pressing need to optimize patient care by providing information in a standardized manner and improving access to breast reconstruction within the Mexican public healthcare system.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fernanda Mesa-Chavez, Paulina Blanco-Murillo, and Sarai de Monserrat Cervantes-Sifuentes for their kind contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Breast Cancer Center, Hospital Zambrano Hellion TecSalud, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Av. Batallon de San Patricio 112, 66278, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Paulina Bajonero-Canonico, Ana S. Ferrigno, Melina Miaja-Avila & Cynthia Villarreal-Garza

  2. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Jorge A. Saldaña-Rodriguez, David E. Hinojosa-Gonzalez, Cristel G. de la O-Maldonado, Brizio Moreno-Jaime, Mariela Hernandez-Pavon & Melina Miaja-Avila

  3. Incubadora Invest, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Carlos de la Cruz-de la Cruz

  4. Psychology Department, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Jose Moral-de la Rubia

Authors
  1. Paulina Bajonero-Canonico
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  2. Ana S. Ferrigno
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  3. Jorge A. Saldaña-Rodriguez
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  10. Melina Miaja-Avila
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  11. Cynthia Villarreal-Garza
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Contributions

Paulina Bajonero-Canonico: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing—review and editing. Ana S. Ferrigno: Formal analysis and writing—original draft. Jorge A. Saldaña-Rodríguez: Investigation. David E. Hinojosa Gonzalez: Investigation. Cristel G. de la O-Maldonado: Investigation. Carlos de la Cruz-de la Cruz: Data curation and formal analysis. Brizio Moreno-Jaime: Conceptualization. Mariela Hernandez-Pavon: Conceptualization. Jose Moral-de la Rubia: Conceptualization. Melina Miaja-Avila: Conceptualization, methodology, and supervision. Cynthia Villarreal-Garza: Conceptualization, methodology, project administration, supervision, and writing—review and editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Melina Miaja-Avila or Cynthia Villarreal-Garza.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This research protocol was approved by the Institutional Research Board of Escuela de Medicina del Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

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Informed consent for participation in this study was obtained from each patient prior to inclusion.

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Informed consent was obtained from each patient for the use of their anonymized data for scientific purposes.

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Bajonero-Canonico, P., Ferrigno, A.S., Saldaña-Rodriguez, J.A. et al. Factors associated with the desire to undergo post-mastectomy breast reconstruction in a Mexican breast cancer center. Support Care Cancer 29, 2679–2688 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05784-4

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