Objective. To assess postoperative quality of life after surgical treatment of breast cancer.

Material and methods. We surveyed 141 patients after total mastectomy, 133 ones after total mastectomy with simultaneous breast reconstruction, 79 patients after total mastectomy with delayed breast reconstruction and 40 patients after aesthetic surgery.

Results. Quality of life depends on surgical intervention. Patients after mastectomy alone had worse QoL compared to mastectomy with breast reconstruction. Simultaneous and delayed breast reconstruction ensured similar indicators of quality of life in long-term postoperative period approaching the values in healthy women. We found higher rates of relapses and metastases in patients with worse quality of life.

Keywords. breast cancer, quality of life, simultaneous and delayed breast reconstruction, mammoplasty