Nationwide data
Current Status of and Trends in Post-Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction in Korea
Song et al. Archives of Plastic Surgery. 2020.
Study in one sentence
The researchers examined how frequently breast reconstruction was performed after mastectomy in Korea after national insurance coverage was introduced.
Why was this study conducted?
Korean National Health Insurance began covering post-mastectomy breast reconstruction in April 2015.
The researchers wanted to describe how reconstruction use changed and which broad reconstructive methods were being performed.
How was the study performed?
The investigators used national Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data to count mastectomy and reconstruction procedures performed between April 2015 and December 2018.
Reconstruction was categorized broadly as implant-based or autologous.
Main findings
The reported post-mastectomy reconstruction rate increased from 19.4% in 2015 to 53.4% in 2018.
In 2015, the data included 1,366 implant-based reconstructions and 905 autologous reconstructions. Both implant-based and autologous reconstruction were represented throughout the study period, with a trend toward implant-based reconstruction over time.
What this may mean for patients
The study shows that breast reconstruction became more accessible in Korea after insurance coverage was introduced.
It also indicates that Korean reconstructive practice includes both implant-based and autologous methods.
For an international patient, this supports asking whether more than one reconstructive option can be evaluated.
What this study does not prove
Source
View the original publicationDOI: 10.5999/aps.2019.01676 · PubMed ID: 32203988
Editorial note
Citation corrected during verification: first author is Song WJ (Arch Plast Surg 2020;47(2):118–125), not the name supplied in the draft content. The 2018 procedure counts supplied in the draft were removed because they could not be independently confirmed against the published record; the verified 2015 counts and the overall rate change are retained.