Postoperative complications of breast risk-reduction surgery in very high risk breast cancer patients: A…

StudyJPRAS open· Nov 2026

Postoperative complications of breast risk-reduction surgery in very high risk breast cancer patients: A series of 253 cases.

Juliette Fraisse, Charline Berthier, Charlotte Vaysse … Dimitri Gangloff

Breast SurgeryStudyClinical practiceQ2IF 2.0

At least one postoperative complication followed risk-reducing mastectomy in 43% of 253 very high risk women, mostly wound healing disorders.

Postoperative complications of breast risk-reduction surgery in very high risk breast cancer patients: A series of 253 cases.

Juliette Fraisse … Dimitri Gangloff

JPRAS open · Nov 2026 · Q2 in Surgery

Background

This study assesses surgical practices and complications related to risk-reducing mastectomy in patients at very high risk for breast cancer.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted among women over 18 years of age who had undergone risk-reducing mastectomy from January 2015 to April 2022 at the Toulouse-Oncopole University Cancer Institute.

n = 253 patients

43%

Results

43%

of women had at least one postoperative complication, mostly wound healing problems

n = 253 patients

More results

Three-quarters of patients (67.6%) underwent prosthetic reconstruction, 17% free-flap reconstruction, and 7% latissimus dorsi flap reconstruction.

A further 11.1% required reoperation.

Implant loss occurred in 3.5% of patients undergoing prosthetic reconstruction.

The rate of free flap loss was 5.9%.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 3

The overall complication rate of 43% aligns with findings from other studies on risk-reducing mastectomy, with notable variations between prosthetic and autologous reconstructions.

Conclusion · 2 of 3

This study highlights the high complication rates associated with risk-reducing mastectomies, especially in patients undergoing free-flap reconstruction.

Conclusion · 3 of 3

Despite these challenges, the rates of reconstruction failure and severe complications remain relatively low.

Postoperative complications of breast risk-reduction surgery in very high risk breast cancer patients: A series of 253 cases.

Postoperative complications of breast risk-reduction surgery in very high risk breast cancer patients: A series of 253 cases.

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