Background: Breast conservation therapy is proved as efficacious as modified radical mastectomy in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. Although cosmesis is widely considered an advantage to this approach, objective evaluations of esthetic results are sparse.
Study design: Twenty-three patients were subjected to three-dimensional, digital imaging of their breasts using a 3dMD camera (3Q Corporation). Differences in volume and surface area were assigned an asymmetry score based on software calculations. Additional variables were queried, and results were compared with a control group of 35 age-matched patients.
Results: Mean asymmetry score for the control population was 3.02 and for the breast conservation therapy population was 4.59 (p = 0.001). There was a positive correlation between percentage of breast parenchyma excised and asymmetry (p = 0.036). The location of the cancer, age of the patient, and need for multiple operations did not influence cosmetic results.
Conclusions: Breast conservation therapy appears to affect breast symmetry when evaluated objectively using three-dimensional imaging. In this series, the degree of asymmetry is related to the amount of tissue resected in relation to the breast volume but not on the location of the tumor, age of the patient, or need for reoperation.