BACKGROUND After breast reconstruction, nipple position and other long-term changes in the reconstructed breast relative to the contralateral breast remain poorly understood In this prospective cohort study, the authors performed serial nipple position measurements over 5 years in patients who had undergone breast reconstruction with a transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous TRAM flap The effects of adjuvant radiotherapy on nipple position over time were also investigated METHODS The authors studied 150 patients who had undergone nipple-sparing mastectomy, using radial incision followed by immediate unilateral pedicled TRAM flap breast reconstruction Measurements of sternal notch-to-nipple, midline-to-nipple, and inframammary fold-to-nipple distances were performed 1 day before reconstruction and 6, 12, 36, and 60 months after surgery, on patients' reconstructed and nonoperated breasts RESULTS The average sternal notch-to-nipple distance increased in both reconstructed and nonoperated breasts at every follow-up visit, with an average difference of 0393 cm at the 60-month visit p less then 00001 Comparing the pattern of distance change, reconstructed breasts tend to change more slowly than nonoperated breasts until 36 months postoperatively In irradiated breasts, the sternal notch-to-nipple distance was significantly smaller than in nonirradiated breasts, and nipple position changed minimally between 1 and 3 years after surgery CONCLUSIONS Nipple position in TRAM flap-reconstructed breasts changed over time compared with that in nonoperated breasts, especially along the vertical axis The pattern of nipple position change in reconstructed breasts became similar to nonoperated breasts 3 years after surgery In patients who had undergone adjuvant radiation therapy, nipple position remained consistent for 1 to 3 years CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, IVBACKGROUND The authors' purpose was to evaluate the effects of body mass index, as defined by World Health Organization criteria, on complications and patient-reported outcomes in implant-based and autologous breast reconstruction METHODS Complications and BREAST-Q patient-reported outcomes were analyzed 2 years after breast reconstruction for women from 11 participating sites Separate mixed-effects regressions were performed to assess body mass index effects on outcomes RESULTS A total of 2259 patients 1625 implant-based and 634 autologous were included Women with class II/III obesity had higher risks of any complication in both the implant OR, 166; p = 003 and autologous OR, 335; p less then 0001 groups, and higher risks of major complications in both the implant OR, 171, p = 004 and autologous OR, 272; p = 0001 groups, compared with underweight/normal weight patients Both class I OR, 197; p = 003 and class II/III OR, 330; p = 0001 obesity patients experienced higher reconstructive failures in the implant cohort Class I obesity implant patients reported significantly lower Satisfaction with Breasts scores mean difference, -537; p = 0007 Body mass index did not significantly affect patient-reported outcomes for autologous reconstruction patients CONCLUSIONS Obesity was associated with higher risks for complications in both implant-based and autologous breast reconstruction; however, it only significantly affected reconstruction failure and patient-reported outcomes in the implant reconstruction patients Quality-of-life benefits and surgical risk should be presented to each patient as they relate to her body mass index, to optimize shared decision-making for breast reconstruction CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Risk, IBACKGROUND Prepectoral implant-based reconstruction reemerged as a viable approach following recent advances in reconstructive techniques and technology To achieve successful outcomes, careful patient selection is critical Obesity increases the risk of complications and has been suggested as a relative contraindication for prepectoral breast reconstruction METHODS Retrospective chart review of patients who underwent immediate two-stage implant-based reconstruction at the authors' institution was performed Only women having a body mass index of 30 kg/m or greater were included Patient demographics, operative details, and surgical outcomes of prepectoral and subpectoral reconstruction were compared RESULTS One hundred ten patients 189 breasts who underwent prepectoral and 83 147 breasts who underwent subpectoral reconstruction were included Complications were comparable between the two groups Twelve devices 64 percent, including implants and tissue expanders, required explantation in the prepectoN/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, IIIBACKGROUND Enhanced recovery after surgery ERAS initiatives improve postoperative function and expedite recovery, leading to a decrease in length of stay The authors noted a high rate of postoperative symptomatic hypotension in patients undergoing abdominal free flap breast reconstruction and wished to explore this observation METHODS Subjects undergoing abdominal free flap breast reconstruction at the authors' institution from 2013 to 2017 were identified The ERAS protocol was initiated in 2015 at the authors' hospital; thus, 99 patients underwent traditional management and 138 patients underwent ERAS management Demographics and perioperative data were collected and analyzed Postoperative symptomatic hypotension was defined as mean arterial pressure below 80 percent of baseline with symptoms requiring evaluation RESULTS A significantly higher rate of postoperative symptomatic hypotension was observed in the ERAS cohort compared with the traditional management cohort 4 percent versus 22 percent; p less then 00001 Patients in the ERAS cohort received significantly less intraoperative intravenous fluid 4467 ml versus 3505 ml; p less then 00001 and had a significantly increased amount of intraoperative time spent with low blood pressure 22 percent versus 32 percent; p =0002 Postoperatively, the ERAS cohort had significantly lower heart rate 77 beats per minute versus 88 beats per minute; p less then 00001 and mean arterial pressure 71 mmHg versus 78 mmHg; p less then 00001, with no difference in urine output or adverse events CONCLUSIONS The authors report that ERAS implementation in abdominal free flap breast reconstruction may result in a unique physiologic state with low mean arterial pressure, low heart rate, and normal urine output, resulting in postoperative symptomatic hypotension Awareness of this early postoperative finding can help better direct fluid resuscitation and prevent episodes of symptomatic hypotension CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, IIIBACKGROUND Patient-reported lower satisfaction with the abdomen preoperatively is a strong predictor of undergoing DIEP flap surgery The authors evaluated physical well-being of the abdomen before and after flap-based breast reconstruction to determine potential predictors for decreased postoperative abdominal well-being METHODS The authors retrospectively analyzed an institutional breast reconstruction registry, selecting patients who underwent abdominally based autologous flap breast reconstruction from 2010 to 2015 The authors' primary outcome was the Physical Well-being of the Abdomen domain from the BREAST-Q, measured preoperatively and at 6- and 12-month follow-up visits after final reconstruction The authors classified two patient groups those who experienced a clinically important worsening of Physical Well-being of the Abdomen score and those who did not The authors used the chi-square test, t test, and Wilcoxon rank sum test, and multivariable logistic regression to identify potential predictors RESULTS Of 142 women identified, 74 52 percent experienced clinically important worsening of physical well-being of the abdomen, whereas 68 48 percent did not The first group experienced a 25-point 95 percent CI, 22 to 28 decrease and the latter an 8-point 95 percent CI, 5 to 10 decrease in score compared to baseline Multivariable analysis showed an association between higher baseline score and race, with higher odds of decreased score at the 12-month follow-up A higher baseline RAND-36 general health score, bilateral reconstruction, and a lower body mass index demonstrated a trend for clinically important worsening of physical well-being of the abdomen CONCLUSIONS More than half of flap-based breast reconstruction patients experienced clinically important worsening of abdominal well-being after final breast reconstruction Clinicians may use these findings to identify patients at higher risk of worsened postoperative abdominal well-being CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Risk, IIIBACKGROUND Breast cancer survival continues to improve, with women living longer after treatment It is not well understood how long-term satisfaction and well-being differ following treatment or how types of reconstruction differ when compared to the norm METHODS In a propensity-matched sample, the authors compared patient-reported outcomes in breast cancer patients at various time intervals from surgery with normative BREAST-Q data All data were obtained using the Army of Women, an online community fostering breast cancer research Breast cancer patients were stratified by surgical treatment and reconstruction type Regression lines were estimated and differences in slope tested between cancer patients and noncancer controls RESULTS The authors compared normative n = 922 and breast cancer n = 4343 cohorts in a propensity-matched analysis Among the breast cancer patients, 494 percent underwent lumpectomy, 170 percent underwent mastectomy, 217 percent underwent implant reconstruction, and 119 percent underwent autologous reconstruction Median time since surgery was 47 years, with 211 percent more than 10 years after surgery At the time of survey, breast cancer patients reported higher Satisfaction with Breasts and Psychosocial Well-being scores compared to noncancer controls p less then 001, with the cohorts undergoing lumpectomy and autologous reconstruction both reporting higher scores than the normative controls After mastectomy, scores averaged lower than the noncancer controls, but improved over time However, all breast cancer groups reported significantly lower Physical Well-being scores than the noncancer cohort all p less then 001 CONCLUSIONS Breast cancer patients undergoing lumpectomy or autologous reconstruction reported higher psychosocial well-being compared to noncancer controls These differences were influenced both by time since treatment and by choice of surgical procedureOBJECTIVE To examine the associations between SP reported as number of days with SP reported as number of times and to evaluate their responsiveness METHODS The study population n = 454 consisted of employed individuals, at risk of long-term sickness absence Correlation analyses were performed to examine associations between the two SP measures and external constructs such as work performance, general health and registered sick leave Both SP constructs were measured several times to examine responsiveness RESULTS The SP measures are moderately correlated They moderately correlated with work performance and health status measures SP reported as number of times seem to be more sensitive than number of days in detecting changes after rehabilitation CONCLUSIONS Numerical or categorical constructs are valid sources of data on SP However, categorized SP seem to be more responsive