Sexual Well-Being Reduced After Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction

Patients undergoing PMBR have lower Sexual Well-Being scores than those undergoing breast-conserving therapy

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Patients undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction (PMBR) have lower Sexual Well-Being scores than those undergoing breast-conserving therapy (BCT), according to a study published in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Carrie S. Stern, M.D., from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis involving patients who underwent BCT or PMBR. Participants completed the Sexual Well-Being section of the BREAST-Q BCT and Reconstruction modules from January 2010 through October 2022, and scores were compared for those receiving BCT or PMBR over time up to five years after surgery.

The analyses included 15,857 patients: 53.7 and 46.3 percent underwent BCT and PMBR, respectively. The researchers found that compared with patients who underwent BCT, those who underwent PMBR had significantly lower Sexual Well-Being scores from preoperatively to five years postoperatively. At one year, patients who underwent PMBR scored 7.6 points lower than those who underwent BCT. Factors that were associated with lower Sexual Well-Being scores included separated marital status, higher body mass index, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, psychiatric diagnosis, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Overall, 3.5 and 5.4 percent of those who underwent BCT and PMBR, respectively, received sexual health consultations.

“Only a small fraction of breast cancer patients receives sexual medicine consultations, suggesting an opportunity for practitioners to counsel these patients about sexual health and encourage them to seek sexual health interventions,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical and medical technology industries.