Background: Total skin-sparing mastectomy (TSSM) with preservation of the nipple-areolar complex skin has become increasingly accepted as an oncologically safe procedure. Oncologic outcomes after TSSM in BRCA mutation carriers have not been well-studied.
Methods: We identified 53 BRCA-positive patients who underwent bilateral TSSM for prophylactic (26 patients) or therapeutic indications (27 patients) from 2001 to 2011. Cases were age-matched (for prophylactic cases) or age- and stage-matched (for therapeutic cases) with non-BRCA-positive patients. Outcomes included tumor involvement of resected nipple tissue, the development of new breast cancers in patients who underwent risk-reducing TSSM, and local-regional recurrence in patients who underwent therapeutic TSSM.
Results: Outcomes from 212 TSSM procedures in 53 cases and 53 controls were analyzed. In patients undergoing TSSM for prophylactic indications, in situ cancer was found in one (1.9 %) nipple specimen in BRCA-positive patients versus two specimens (3.8 %) in the non-BRCA-positive cohort (p = 1). At a mean follow-up of 51 months, no new cancers developed in either cohort. In patients undergoing TSSM for therapeutic indications, in situ or invasive cancer was found in zero of the nipple specimens in BRCA-positive patients versus two specimens (3.7 %) in the non-BRCA-positive cohort (p = 0.49). At a mean follow-up of 37 months, there were no local-regional recurrences in the BRCA-positive cohort and 1 (3.7 %) in the non-BRCA-positive cohort.
Conclusions: TSSM is an oncologically safe procedure in BRCA-positive patients. In patients undergoing TSSM as a risk-reducing strategy, 4-year follow-up demonstrates no increased risk of developing new breast cancers; longer-term follow-up is ongoing.