Procedure Improves Quality Of Life For Large-Breasted Women.(breast reduction mammoplasty found to help decrease back, neck, shoulder, and other pain)

2001 JUN 7 - (NewsRx Network) -- A review and meta-analysis of 29 studies involving more than 4,000 patients found that breast reduction surgery significantly improves the physical symptoms and quality of life in large-breasted women.

The surgery, known as reduction mammoplasty, was found to decrease back, neck, and shoulder pain, headache, breast pain, and numbness and pain of the hands. The study's findings and an editorial on the subject were published in the May 2001 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

While third-party payers have usually deemed the procedure medically necessary if at least 350 grams of tissue per breast is removed, some insurance companies only provide reimbursement if patients are no more than 10% above their ideal body weight. The study authors wrote that a patient's breast size in relation to her body proportion also frequently plays a significant role in physical symptoms, however, so body weight and breast tissue resection weight may not be adequate indicators of improved outcomes after reduction mammoplasty.

Author Elenie Chadbourne, MD, and several co-authors are with MetaWorks Inc.; ...