THURSDAY, March 26, 2026 (NewsDay News) — For women with breast cancer treated with mastectomy, the use of polyurethane-coated (PUc) implants is associated with an increased rate of surgical revision due to capsular contracture (CC) in the postmastectomy setting, according to the Advanced Radiotherapy (PMRT) Study. Annual European Conference on Breast Cancer, held March 25-27 in Barcelona, Spain.
Kerstin Wimmer, MD, from the Medical University of Vienna and colleagues investigated the relationship between the use of PUc and non-PUc implants and the need for surgical revision due to CC in the setting of PMRT. The study included 1,455 women who underwent treatment between 2016 and 2024: 980 underwent implant-based breast reconstruction (IBBR) and 475 underwent PUc IBBR.
The researchers found that the use of non-PUc implants was associated with an increased rate of surgical revision due to CC compared with PUc IBBR (25.7 versus 9.3 percent). In addition, the rate of any CC was also significantly higher in the informal group than in the PUc group (47.5 vs. 32.8 percent). The non-PUc group was also more likely to have major infection, implant loss, reoperation, and implant exposure (odds ratios, 3.9, 11.0, 3.3, and 7.9, respectively).
“For patients, this study shows that the type of implant used can have a significant impact on the risk of complications after radiotherapy,” Wimmer said in a statement. “For clinicians, it provides important evidence to help guide reconstructive planning for patients likely to require radiotherapy.”
One author disclosed links to Bondimed and Polytech.
