This study assesses whether the routine submission of
mastectomy scars for histologic examination at the time of delayed
breast reconstruction is useful. A retrospective review was performed of all delayed
breast reconstructions for
breast cancer performed by a single surgeon over a 5-year period from January 2000 to December 2004. One hundred eighty-eight patients underwent delayed
breast reconstruction during this period, and of these, 133
scars (1 patient had bilateral
scars excised) were submitted for histology where the reconstruction was performed by either transversus rectus abdominus muscle flap (TRAM) or latissimus dorsi
myocutaneous flap (LDF) +/- implant. Fifty-six patients had reconstruction performed by
tissue expander through the inframammary crease where the original
mastectomy scar was not excised and were excluded from the study. One
mastectomy scar specimen showed a 2-mm suspicious area of invasive
ductal carcinoma consistent with same histopathology at the time of
mastectomy. This study corroborates evidence that it is questionable whether routine histopathology of
mastectomy scar at the time of delayed
breast reconstruction should not be a standard practice.