Fig 1.
Various types of endoscopy-assisted breast surgery performed for breast cancer.
(a) Endoscopic-assisted partial mastectomy (breast conserving surgery), right breast cancer at three-year postoperative follow-up. (b) Endoscopic-assisted skin-sparing mastectomy without reconstruction, left breast cancer at one-year postoperative follow-up. (c) Endoscopic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy without reconstruction, left breast cancer at two-year postoperative follow-up. (d) Endoscopic-assisted skin-sparing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction with cohesive gel implant, right breast cancer at four-month postoperative follow-up. (e) Endoscopic-assisted nipple mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction with cohesive gel implant, left breast cancer and right phyllodes tumor post bilateral endoscopic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy with gel implant at eight-month postoperative follow-up. (f) Endoscopic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction with transverse rectus musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap, right breast cancer at six-month postoperative follow-up.
Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who underwent endoscopic-assisted breast surgery.
Fig 2.
Trend in usage of endoscopy-assisted breast surgery during the period 2009 to 2014 in Taiwan.
(a) The number of breast cancer patients who received EABS increased gradually over the past 6 years. The number increased sharply from 2009 to 2012 and then decreased and became stable during the period 2012–2014. This decrease was consistently observed at the three EABS centers in Taiwan. (b) Over the past 6 years (2009–2014), there has been a trend toward use of EABS in the management of breast cancer when total mastectomy was indicated (EATM. (c) Initially E-NSM was performed in conjunction with breast reconstruction. Then EATM without reconstruction was performed gradually. During the study period, there was an increase in the number of EATM procedures performed with IBR, followed by EATM alone without reconstruction and then EPM. (d) The use of gel implants for breast reconstruction increased more rapidly than TRAM flap. Endoscopy-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy with gel implant reconstruction was the most frequent type of EABS performed at the end of the study.
Table 2.
Types of EABS procedures performed in the study and associated characteristics.
Table 3.
Comparison of operation time between different EABS and conventional operations.
Table 4.
Complications associated with EABS.
Table 5.
Oncologic safety analysis of patients received EABS.
Table 6.
Oncologic safety of EABS as reported in the literature and in the current study.