Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the word.With breast reconstruction, we restore the missing part of the breast to women, raise their self – esteem and improve their quality of life. By introducing patients to reconstruction options and good reconstruction technique, we can return patients satisfaction and enable them to have a better quality of life. Purpose: The purpose of the master`s work is to determine patient satisfaction and quality of life after breast reconstruction using the validated Breast Q questionnaire. In addition, we want to find out what effect and influence the last stage of reconstruction has. Methodology: The research took place at University Medical Center Ljubljana at the department for plastic, reconstructive, aesthetic surgery and burns, we used a quantitative research method. The selected patients were surveyed using the Breast Q anonymous survey questionnaire, for which we obtained appropriate permissions and translated it into Slovenian. We compared two groups of patients operated with either one or the other reconstruction technique, i.e. autologous reconstruction with free tissue from the abdomen and reconstruction with a tissue expander followed by a permanent breast implant. Questionnaires were completed in the periods before the nipple areolar - tattooing and 6 – 9 months after the nipple areolar – tattooing. Results: Patient satisfaction after breast reconstruction is high in Slovenia, as the score is 76.1 out of 100 possible, which is similar to surveys around the world. We found that patients in Slovenia were more satisfied with the autologous type of reconstruction and that is positively correlated with the age of the patients in the group of 56-70 years. The last part of breast reconstruction (the nipple areolar – tattooing) does not have a statistically significant effect on the better final results of breast reconstruction. The medical team that participates in the entire treatment, plays an important role in treating patients and offering support, which is shown by the high level of satisfaction in this area. Discussion and conclusion: The results show that patients in Slovenia are satisfied with breast reconstruction. Satisfaction is most felt in the field of nursing care, which is important information for all members of the multidisciplinary team and confirms how important is interaction with patients. To increase the objectivity of patients experiences and answers, improvements could be made with the addition of a set of questions about expectations before surgery. Also it would be reasonable to consider the expansion of the questionnaire, additional areas of Breast Q and to continue research on a larger number of participants, and to keep a timeline of whether satisfaction changes over the years and what affects it.
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