THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND COSMETIC ASPECTS OF BREAST-CONSERVING THERAPY COMPARED WITH RADICAL-MASTECTOMY

An evaluation of the psychological and cosmetic morbidity of 31 patien ts who had undergone breast conserving treatment (BCT group) and 71 pa tients who had undergone radical mastectomy (RM group) revealed that 8 5% and 73%, respectively, were satisfied with their operative results. BCT appeared superior to RM in relation to body image, with 93% of th e BCT group indicating BCT as a future choice of treatment, whereas on ly 35% of the RM group indicated RM as a future choice of treatment. F or 59% of the BCT patients, the results were considered excellent or g ood by a physician, but fear of recurrence was frequently expressed by both groups even though an early stage of breast cancer had been sign ificantly more common in the BCT group than the RM group. Sexual adjus tment was the same in both groups. Body image was thus concluded to ha ve been improved by BCT rather than RM, but psychological morbidity wa s essentially the same in both groups.