Breast-conserving treatment in oncoplastic times: indications, cosmesis, and quality of life

Breast-conserving treatment was established as an oncologically safe procedure for breast cancer. However, the cosmetic outcomes of breast-conserving treatments are often unsatisfactory. In this scenario, oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery incorporated plastic surgery concepts and techniques into the oncological treatment in order to ensure better cosmesis, thus increasing the indications for breast-conserving treatment. At the same time, oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery is usually presented as a generic term, which should be evaluated taking many aspects into account: indication, patient selection, the surgery itself, cosmetic quality, and quality of life — data that are still scarce in the literature.