Tissue screening after breast reduction
BMJ 2009; 338 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b630 (Published 11 March 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b630
- Mohammed Keshtgar, consultant breast surgeon1,
- Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, clinical fellow in breast surgery 1,
- Tim Davidson, consultant breast surgeon1,
- Paula Escobar, clinical fellow in breast surgery 1,
- Patrick Mallucci, consultant plastic surgeon 1,
- Afshin Mosahebi, consultant plastic surgeon 1,
- Michael Baum, emeritus professor of breast surgery 1
- 1University Department of Surgery, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust and Royal Free and University College Medical School, London NW3 2QG
- Correspondence to: M Keshtgarmo.keshtgar{at}royalfree.nhs.uk
- Accepted 19 November 2008
Reduction mammoplasty is one of the most common procedures performed by plastic surgeons all around the world.1 For decades, it has been a common practice to send even normal looking surgical specimens for histopathological analysis because of the possibility of finding asymptomatic breast cancer. A postal questionnaire sent to consultant members of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1994 found that 89% routinely sent breast reduction tissue for histopathology, and 42% of respondents had seen at least one case of breast cancer from these tissues.2
Pathological findings of breast cancer at the time of reduction mammoplasty have been …
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