Objective. To analyze patient quality of life after simultaneous breast reconstruction with implants and biological or synthetic matrices.

Material and methods. A prospective controlled study involved 91 patients aged 53.7±2.1 years with breast cancer who were treated between 2013 and 2018. Depending on reconstruction technique, all patients were divided into two groups: classical prepectoral reconstruction (n=49) and prepectoral reconstruction using functionally sparing method (n=42).

Results. Incidence of seroma was 2 times higher in the 2nd group (9 (21.4%) vs. 6 (12.4%)). Biological matrix was followed by 2-fold higher incidence of complications compared to synthetic mesh (66.6% vs. 33.4%). Postoperative analysis revealed a significant deterioration of all QoL parameters in the 1st group and improvement of all these parameters in the 2nd group, except for sexual well-being.

Conclusion. Functionally sparing prepectoral breast reconstruction improves health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients regarding mental well-being, breast shape satisfaction and psychosocial well-being. At the same time, there was no deterioration of sexual well-being. We observed significantly less incidence of certain complications such as animation deformity and postoperative pain syndrome.

Keywords. breast cancer, acellular dermal matrix, synthetic mesh, breast reconstruction, reconstruction with implants, prepectoral breast reconstruction, prepectoral pocket for an implant