Breast reconstruction with polyurethane implants: preliminary report

Today, immediate breast reconstruction is widely accepted in breast cancer surgery. There are many reconstruction procedures that combine cancer indications with patient's expectations. Improved techniques in the use of textured or polyurethane-coated implants and tissue expanders, associated with increasingly more conservative mastectomy procedures, may result in better cosmetic outcomes and less complications, even in patients that require postoperative radiotherapy. From June 2002 to December 2008, 166 unilateral breast reconstructions were performed immediately using definite prosthesis with polyurethane-coated (6) or textured (24) implants, or later, after implant of 136 tissue expanders, using polyurethanecoated (113) or textured (23) implants. Eighty-six two-stage breast reconstructions were irradiated where later 63 polyurethane-coated implants and 23 textured implants have been inserted. Results were analysed evaluating complications associated with temporary expanders and with the two definite implants, with or without RT, respectively. Excluding capsular contracture, total complication rate was 14.7% with expanders, 5.0% with polyurethane implants and 12.8% with textured implants. In this study, severe capsular contracture was reported in 21.7% of cases with textured prosthesis and in 6.3% of cases with polyurethane implants in patients receiving RT. This difference was statistically significant. As of today, no case of clinically noticeable capsular contracture was seen in non-irradiated patients receiving breast reconstruction with polyurethane-coated implants. These results allow us to establish RT, which is not a severe contraindication to breast reconstruction with implants. Polyurethane implants have provided encouraging results either in terms of lower complication rate and likelihood of capsular contracture.