Impact of Breast Cancer Subtype Defined by Immunohistochemistry Hormone Receptor and HER2 Status on the Incidence of Immediate Postmastectomy Reconstruction

Immediate postmastectomy reconstruction has become an increasingly popular choice for breast cancer patients recently. However, whether molecular subtype of cancer impacts the incidence of breast reconstruction is unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between breast cancer subtype defined by immunohistochemistry hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status and recent rates of immediate postmastectomy reconstruction in the United States. The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was used to evaluate stage I–III breast cancer patients with different subtypes who underwent either mastectomy alone or mastectomy plus reconstruction between 2010 and 2012. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify factors influencing the incidence of immediate reconstruction. Of 47,123 women included, 33.1% (10,712/32,376) of HR+/HER2−, 33.1% (1912/5768) of HR+/HER2+, 29.6% (850/2875) of HR−/HER2+, and 27.7% (1689/6104) of triple negative breast cancer patients received immediate breast reconstruction (chi-square test, P < 0.001), respectively. Thus, HER2-overexpressing and triple negative breast cancer patients received significantly less breast reconstruction. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, geographic, or clinicopathologic factors, HER2-overexpressing (OR 0.896, 95% CI 0.817–0.984) and triple negative (OR 0.806, 95% CI 0.751–0.866) breast cancer patients remained less likely to undergo immediate postmastectomy reconstruction compared with HR+/HER2− or HR+/HER2+ patients. No significant difference was found in the type of reconstruction among different subtypes. Subgroup analysis showed that the difference of breast reconstruction rates among distinct subtypes varied with different grade and stage groups, and the association between breast cancer subtype and the reconstruction rate was not significant in low grade and early stage patients. This population-based study determined that breast cancer subtype was an independent predictor for the utilization of immediate postmastectomy reconstruction. Patients with HER2-overexpressing or triple negative breast cancer subtype that has relatively higher risk of local recurrence, were less likely to receive immediate breast reconstruction than those with luminal tumors. Further studies are needed to disclose more underlying reasons of different reconstruction incidences for distinct subtypes of breast cancer.