Purpose: We hypothesized that having all breast cancer ablative surgery performed exclusively by surgical oncologists has had a positive impact on the number of women undergoing immediate or early-delayed breast reconstruction at our tertiary cancer center.

Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective IRB approved study using our hospital ICD-9 and CPT cancer database comparing mastectomy and reconstruction rates before and after the addition of surgical oncologists to the cancer team. General surgeons performed the mastectomies in the first time period (9/96 – 8/98). Surgical oncologists performed the mastectomies in the second time period (9/01 – 8/03). Results were analyzed with Fisher’s exact test.

Results: In the first time period, 161 mastectomies were performed and a total of 53 breast reconstructions were performed (34 immediate, 1 early-delayed, 18 late). In the second time period, 220 mastectomies were performed and 154 breast reconstructions were performed (113 immediate, 4 early-delayed, 37 late). The percentage of women having immediate or early-delayed breast reconstruction following mastectomy significantly increased from 21.74% in the first two-year period to 53.18% in the second two-year period (p<.0001).

Conclusion: The addition of surgical oncologists to the breast cancer team has had a positive impact on the rate of early breast reconstruction.