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. 2023 Dec 4;4(1):594-602.
doi: 10.1089/whr.2023.0106. eCollection 2023.

Importance of Breast Sensation After Mastectomy: Evidence from Three Sources

Stacy T Lindau  1   2 , El A Pinkerton  1 , Emily M Abramsohn  1 , Charles M Fuller  1 , Danielle Grubb  1 , Tania Mendoza  1 , Amy K Siston  3
Affiliations

Importance of Breast Sensation After Mastectomy: Evidence from Three Sources

Stacy T Lindau et al. Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). .

Abstract

Background: Every year, more than 90,000 U.S. women undergo mastectomy. More than 40% have reconstruction. Following reconstruction, most women experience persistent partial or complete numbness of the reconstructed breasts, and many experience pain. Yet, breast reconstruction procedures focus largely on esthetic outcomes with mixed impact on sensory outcomes and little attention to pain. This study examines whether and how breast sensation is important to women.

Materials and methods: Conventional content analysis of extant qualitative data from a clinical registry (29 women with prior breast surgery for cancer, 2008-2022), a volunteer community sample (qualitative interviews with 6 women with and 5 without breast cancer, 2019), and from a Twitter social media survey (N = 32, 2022).

Results: Functions of the breast identified by women with and without cancer include breastfeeding, sexual function, and femininity. Five interrelated themes on the importance of breast sensation emerged among women with breast cancer history: sexual function, experience of partnered sex or relationship with one's sexual partner, breast embodiment, effect of breast pain on sexual function, and importance to psychological wellbeing. Women, advocates, and clinicians described a lack of patient-physician communication in this domain that exacerbates the negative impact of breast sensation loss on health and wellbeing.

Conclusions: Breast sensation is important to women following mastectomy, yet a gap exists in patient-physician communication about the impact of mastectomy and reconstruction on breast sensory function. Lessons for physicians, scientists, and skeptics are conveyed about why the basic integrity of women's bodies matters for practice and science.

Keywords: breast cancer; breast reconstruction; breast sensation; breast sensory function; mastectomy; sexual function.

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Conflict of interest statement

S.T.L. discloses that under the terms of Grant Number 1C1CMS330997-01-00 (S.T.L., PI) from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, she was expected to develop a sustainable business model to continue and support the model that we tested after award funding ended. S.T.L. was the founder and owner of a social impact company, NowPow, LLC, which was acquired by Unite USA, Inc., in 2021. S.T.L. is an unpaid advisor to and holds stock in Unite USA, Inc. Neither the University of Chicago nor UChicago Medicine is endorsing or promoting Unite Us or its business, products, or services. S.T.L. is an editor on Female Sexual Dysfunction for UpToDate and received royalties <$100/year in 2019, 2020 for this work. Subsequent royalties have been paid to the University of Chicago. S.T.L. and her spouse own equity in a health care company unrelated to this study. The University of Chicago has filed patents (pending) for the Bionic Breast Project, a project led by S.T.L. All other authors have no competing interests to disclose. The study findings are the authors' own and do not reflect the view of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health.

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