The importance of preoperative imaging methods in reduction mammoplasty

Breast reduction surgery is a common procedure in plastic surgery clinics, and there are varying practices regarding preoperative mammography and breast ultrasound in patients who have no history of cancer and no symptoms other than those caused by macromastia. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the imaging findings of patients who presented to the plastic surgery outpatient clinic due to macromastia between January 1, 2006 and June 1, 2020 and underwent mammography and/or breast ultrasound for preoperative screening and breast magnetic resonance imaging for further examination. Patients with a history of breast cancer diagnosed prior to preoperative screening or any other breast disease were excluded. Radiologically suspicious findings were significantly more common in patients over 40 years of age and significantly less frequent in the group under 50 years of age. When the patients were grouped by the decade of life, the frequency of radiologically suspicious findings was significantly lower in the 20-29 group and significantly higher in the 40-49 and 50-59 groups. Malignancy was not detected by histopathological examination in any patient. Proliferative lesions were detected in 10 reduction mammoplasty specimens (2.4%) of 7 patients (3.1%). The correlation between radiological and histopathological findings may be weak in macromastia patients. Most suspicious radiological findings appear to be the population between 40 and 59 years of age.(c) 2021 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.