Older and younger women ‘both benefit from postmastectomy breast reconstruction’

Older women can enjoy the same benefits from breast reconstruction following mastectomy for breast cancer as younger women, according to a new study.

Published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, the study examined data from 1,531 women who underwent surgery at one of 11 institutions in the US and Canada.

It was found that women of all ages experienced similar benefits in terms of personal satisfaction and psychosocial, physical and sexual wellbeing, without older patients seeing significant increase in the risk for complications.

Given that the procedure was successful in the vast majority of cases, the report provides evidence that age alone should not be considered a reason to disqualify a woman from undergoing a reconstruction procedure.

Dr Edwin Wilkins, principal author and professor of plastic surgery at the University of Michigan, said: "Breast reconstruction has been described as a reverse mastectomy. Given the findings from our study, it's hard to dispute that contention, regardless of age."

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