[Plastic surgery and conservative treatment of breast cancer. Indications and results].

After conservative treatment for breast cancer, 75% of patients have good cosmetic results, but 20 to 25% of patients have a fair or a bad result. The tumor itself is responsible for some of these bad results (tumor volume, location in the inferior quadrants of the breast) but more often, failures are related to surgery and/or radiotherapy. Some patients will then ask for reconstructive surgery. It should always be preceded by a careful examination of the breast, both with an oncologic and a reconstructive approach. The techniques used are numerous, ranging from simple reexcision of the lumpectomy scar to mastectomy with immediate TRAM flap reconstruction. We believe that plastic surgery techniques should be used as soon as the initial lumpectomy, as they help to fill in the defect. In the case of a tumor located in the inferior quadrants, bad cosmetic results are twice as frequent as in the upper quadrants: we treated 16 of these patients with immediate bilateral breast reduction, reshaping the breast at the same time as the lumpectomy, and achieving symmetry of the contralateral breast. This technique did not interfere with radiotherapy or chemotherapy. When radiotherapy followed surgery, cosmetic results were good. Local and distant recurrences were not modified by the adjunction of a breast reduction to the lumpectomy. In 49 cases, we also proposed a bilateral breast reduction for larger tumors (T > 3 cm, bifocal cancer). 4-year local recurrence rate was less than 10%: this technique could help to extend the indications for conservative treatment for breast cancer. More cases and longer follow-up are necessary.