EVALUATION OF A PRIORITY GROUPING SYSTEM FOR PATIENTS UNDERGOING REDUCTION MAMMAPLASTY

The consequences of an-earlier published priority grouping system for reduction mammaplasty are described. The system is based on breast vol ume but gives priority to certain age groups (25 years or less and 60 years or more), asymmetry, and ptosis, whereas overweight is considere d as a negative factor. Additional points are given for psychological or somatic symptoms, or both. A total of 210 patients, who had been op erated on were evaluated, and based on their total priority score, pat ients were assigned to one Of five priority groups. Only five of the p atients operated on belonged to the two groups with the lowest priorit y which indicates that the grouping system is a useful tool for sortin g wailing lists and making decisions about priorities. The impact of t he age related score and the subjective extra score for somatic and ps ychological distress is, however, considerable and questionable. Most of the patients (57%) less than 21 years old were in the group with th e highest priority. The mean time period between acceptance for operat ion and the actual operation is 14 months in this age and priority gro up, which is far less than any other group. We think that the main foc us should be the actual size of the breast and we have therefore recen tly modified the grouping system and reduced the impact of age and var iables based on subjective scoring.