Women Prefer Silicone to Saline Implants After Mastectomy

After a double mastectomy, breast cancer patients prefer silicone implants, instead of saline implants, found a study led by Colleen McCarthy, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Women with silicone implants are more satisfied with their breasts, and this actually might help both physicians and breast cancer survivors, in making an informed decision about postmastectomy reconstructive surgery.

Most women who have one or both breasts removed because of breast cancer, generally want to have a breast reconstructive surgery, with implants.

These implants can be filled with silicone or saline gel, and even if both types have green light from the US Food and Drug Administration, women do not seem to think that both methods have the same benefits.

The effectiveness of postmastectomy implants is permanently analyzed, because besides safety and efficacy, the quality of life and the satisfaction of the patient are very important, when it comes to choosing one implant type over the other.

This is why Dr McCarthy's team led a survey including 672 women, who had undergone postmastectomy reconstructive surgery with implants at one of three centers in North America.

Out of the women that filled in the questionnaires, 176 had silicone implants and 306 – saline implants.

The results of the survey showed that women with silicone implants were far more satisfied with their new breasts that women with saline implants were.

The only problem seemed to be the radiation therapy after the mastectomy, which had a negative effect on breast satisfaction in both implant groups, whose satisfaction also diminished over time.

Dr. McCarthy said that “we now know that women who elect to proceed with the placement of a silicone implant report higher satisfaction with their reconstructed breasts than those who choose saline implants.

“It also appears that patient satisfaction with postmastectomy implant-based reconstruction is generally high and that individual treatment variables—such as implant type—explain only a relatively small amount of the variance.

“Patient counseling should reflect these realities in order to reassure patients that high satisfaction may be obtained with both saline and silicone implants," she concluded.

This survey was published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.