Fw: Breast Reconstruction More Risky for Smokers

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From: ilena rose <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 1:37 PM

Subject: Breast Reconstruction More Risky for Smokers

> ~~~ thanx lany! ~~~

>

>

http://cbshealthwatch.netscape.com/netcenter/p/gcommunity/HNews/hnews.asp?Re

cID=> 235244 & Channel=22

>

> Breast Reconstruction More Risky for Smokers

>

>

> By Amy Norton

>

> NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters Health)--Women who undergo breast reconstruction

> after mastectomy face a higher risk of complications if they smoke,

> researchers report. They found smokers are more likely than either

> nonsmokers or ex-smokers to have complications after breast

reconstruction,

> regardless of the methods used in surgery.

>

> In a review of more than 700 women who had undergone postmastectomy breast

> reconstruction, investigators found that the 20% who were smokers had a

> higher complication rate than the other women. Nearly 40% suffered

> complications such as infection and tissue damage, compared with one

> quarter of nonsmokers or former smokers. In addition, smokers were more

> likely to have complications regardless of the type of reconstruction they

> had.

>

> Dr. Arvind N. Padubidri and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation

> in Ohio report their findings in the February issue of Plastic and

> Reconstructive Surgery. In the study, the researchers looked at women who

> had undergone one of two types of breast reconstruction: one in which the

> chest skin is expanded and an implant is inserted, and one in which tissue

> is removed from the abdomen and transplanted to the chest.

>

> The investigators found that smokers had more complications with either

> type of surgery--including necrosis, or tissue death, in skin " flaps " at

> the site of reconstruction. This necrosis is a risk for any patient

because

> the surgery decreases blood supply to the tissue, study co-author Dr.

> Randall Yetman told Reuters Health.

>

> But nonsmokers are better able to withstand the decreased blood supply, he

> explained. Smoking triggers immediate constriction in blood vessels, which

> along with its longer-term effects on health, makes smokers more

vulnerable

> to tissue necrosis.

>

> Yetman said it is his policy to require smokers to quit for the 3 weeks

> before breast reconstruction--an abstinence period he and his colleagues

> have found helps cut complications.

>

> SOURCE: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2001;107:342-349.

>

>