Prevention of Postoperative Complications by Negative Pressure Therapy After Complex Breast Cancer Surgery

There is little scientific data concerning the use of negative pressure therapy after immediate breast reconstruction. That strategy of treatment-reconstruction has expanded increasingly since the last years. The current literature reports only 3 studies on the use of preventive negative pressure therapy in oncologic breast surgery. Moreover, all three are retrospective, case-control studies with serious limitations. The largest published series reports a reduction in the overall complication rate from 15.9% to 8.5%, and a significant reduction in several criteria: infection, scar dehiscence and necrosis. However, the study presents significant biases, with non-comparable populations in terms of comorbidities, surgical procedure performed, inclusion periods (and therefore experience in performing oncological surgery). There was also a high probability of under-assessment or postponement of post-operative complications, which is typical of published retrospective surgical studies. The published results therefore strongly encourage further investigation of negative pressure therapy in oncological breast surgery.