Epistemology

Mastectomy

Mammaplasty

Cancer

Political science

Breast reconstruction

Internal medicine

Surgery

Medicine

MEDLINE

Quality (philosophy)

Breast cancer

General surgery

Philosophy

Medical physics

JAMA Surgery

Breast reconstruction has the potential to improve a person's body image and quality of life but has important risks. Variations in who undergoes breast reconstruction have led to questions about the quality of patient decisions.To assess the quality of patient decisions about breast reconstruction.A prospective, cross-sectional survey study was conducted from June 27, 2012, to February 28, 2014, at a single, academic, multidisciplinary oncology clinic among women planning to undergo mastectomy for stage I to III invasive ductal or lobular breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, or prophylaxis.Mastectomy only and mastectomy with reconstruction.Knowledge, as ascertained using the Decision Quality Instrument; preference concordance, based on rating and ranking of key attributes; and decision quality, defined as having knowledge of 50% or more and preference concordance.During the 20-month period, 214 patients were eligible, 182 were approached, and 32 missed. We enrolled 145 patients (79.7% enrollment rate), a...

Quality of Patient Decisions About Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy