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Associated medical treatments also have a considerable impact on health-care costs. Several studies have assessed these costs, but the total disease costs of macromastia have never been evaluated on the basis of real-world data.
The data for 76 patients who underwent reduction mammoplasty between and were collected using a two-part questionnaire preoperative and postoperative , as well as the patient files. Topics surveyed, besides demographic data, included physician visits, medical imaging, medical procedures, medical treatments, rehabilitation and convalescent measures, drug intake, medical aids, exercise activity, and sick leave days before surgery, to calculate the costs per year of conservative treatment of symptomatic macromastia.
The mean time from start of symptoms to surgery was These costs include medical consultation, radiological imaging, medical treatments and procedures, physical therapy and rehabilitation, medication, special brassieres, exercise classes costs for sick leave due to problems with macromastia, and travel expenses.
These results show that considerable health-care costs arise due to macromastia with conservative treatment. In particular, lost productivity due to sick days and the costs of physiotherapy are factors driving the high costs. Keywords: Macromastia, Gigantomastia, Disease costs, Conservative treatment, Health care, Breast reduction mammoplasty. There is no unique definition of macromastia.
