Breast cancer recurrence after nipple-sparing mastectomy: one institution's experience.

BACKGROUND: Nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) has been increasingly used to treat women with breast cancer who wish to preserve the overlying breast skin, but concern remains regarding tumor recurrence. We report our experience performing NSM for breast cancer treatment and prophylaxis over a 6-year period.

METHODS: A retrospective chart review on patients undergoing NSM or skin-sparing mastectomy (SSM) from 2005 to 2011 was performed.

RESULTS: NSM patients were younger (P < .001), had a lower body mass index (P < .001), and were associated with a family cancer risk (P = .01) but not genetic risk (P = .83). There was no difference in the distance between the tumor and the nipple-areola complex when comparing NSM and SSM (P = .47). There was no significant difference in recurrence (P = .08) or survival (P = .38) when comparing NSM and SSM after controlling for age, stage, and surgery laterality.

CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in survival or cancer recurrence for NSM or SSM. NSM does not increase the risk of recurrence or decrease survival.