PURPOSE: Surgical equipment used in breast cancer surgery that affects wound healing and minimizes complications seems to be a popular investigation topic. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of plasmakinetic cautery on wound healing in patients receiving mastectomy. METHODS: Forty-six consecutive breast cancer patients receiving modified radical mastectomy were evaluated prospectively. Plasmakinetic cautery was used in 24 operations and electrocautery was used in 22 operations in random order to manage skin flaps and excise breast tissue. In the postoperative period, vacuum drainage amount and duration time as well as the start time of arm exercises were recorded. Complications like seroma, surgical site infection, hematoma, and flap necrosis were determined. RESULTS: Age, body mass index, breast volume and flap area parameters were similar in each group. Mean drainage duration was found to be 5.5 days in the plasmacautery group and 7.9 days in the electrocautery group (p=0.020). In the plasmacautery and electrocautery groups, mean drainage volume was 707 and 1,093 mL, respectively (p=0.025). There was no statistical significance between the groups when operation duration, amount of blood loss, time to start arm exercises, seroma, hematoma, surgical site infection, and flap necrosis were considered. CONCLUSION: Plasmakinetic cautery is a promising new surgical instrument that provides atraumatic, scalpel-like cutting precision and electrosurgical-like hemostasis, resulting in minimal tissue injury. So, plasmacautery shortens the drainage amount and duration time compared to electrocautery without elongating operation duration or increasing the amount of blood loss.
Arm ; Body Mass Index ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cautery ; Drainage ; Electrocoagulation ; Exercise ; Hematoma ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Mastectomy ; Mastectomy, Modified Radical ; Necrosis ; Postoperative Period ; Prospective Studies ; Seroma ; Skin ; Surgical Equipment ; Surgical Instruments ; Vacuum ; Wound Healing

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine and to compare the oncological outcomes of bilateral reduction mammoplasty to standard breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer. METHODS: One hundred sixty-two patients who received a quadrantectomy because of breast cancer (group 1) and 106 breast cancer patients with macromastia who underwent breast-conserving surgery via bilateral reduction mammoplasty (group 2) between 2003 and 2010 were enrolled in this study. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 37 months for group 1 and 33 months for group 2. Surgical margins were wider than 2 mm in 82.7% and 10 mm in 76.5% of the patients in group 1. Eleven percent of patients had positive surgical margins in this group. When compared to group 2, the rates were 89%, 84%, and 8.4%, respectively. Three patients (1.8%) in group 1 and one patient (0.9%) in group 2 had local recurrence of the disease and received a mastectomy. No statistical significances were noted for either local recurrence or overall survival between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Bilateral reduction mammoplasty has some advantages as compared to the standard conventional breast-conserving surgery techniques without having any unfavorable effects on surgical margin confidence, local recurrence, and survival rates.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Mammaplasty ; Mastectomy ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the importance of routine pathological examination of contralateral breast specimens in breast cancer patients using reduction mammoplasty. METHODS: Theweight of breast tissue resected from the contralateral breast in 71 patients and the number of slices used for pathological evaluation were recorded. Breast lesions found in the contralateral breast and accompanying lesions with tumors were examined. RESULTS: High risk proliferative lesions were reported in the contralateral breast of eight (11.2%) patients, and low-risk lesions were detected in 18 (25%). While the mean age of the patients with high-risk lesions was 45.6, it was 52.8 for the other patients (p=0.036). CONCLUSION: Bilateral reduction mammoplasty may be beneficial to delineate some pathologies in contralateral breasts even in those patients with normal clinical and radiological findings. The incidental discovery of these pathologies is much more likely in young breast cancer patients.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Female ; Humans ; Incidental Findings ; Mammaplasty