Predictors of re-operation due to post-surgical bleeding in breast cancer patients: A Danish population-based cohort study

Aim

To assess the risk of re-operation due to post-surgical bleeding after initial breast cancer surgery and to identify predictors of re-operation.

Methods

We conducted a population-based study in Denmark. Patients were categorized according to age group, surgery type, and glucocorticoid use before surgery: never, current (0–90 days), and former (>90 days). We calculated the risk of re-operation due to post-surgical bleeding within 14 days after surgery, risk differences, and risk ratios of re-operation associated with age group, surgery type, and glucocorticoid use.

Results

19,919 women were studied; 508 were re-operated. 3573 of the 19,919 women ever used glucocorticoids. Older age and mastectomy increased the risk of post-surgical bleeding compared with breast conserving surgery and younger age among both ever and never users of glucocorticoids. The crude risk of re-operation was 2.5% among never users of glucocorticoids, 2.6% among ever users and 4.0% among current users. Women aged ≥80 who were ever users of glucocorticoids and who had a mastectomy had 8.1% risk of re-operation due to post-surgical bleeding, whereas women <80 years old who never used glucocorticoids and who had breast conserving surgery had a 1.7% risk of re-operation.

Conclusions

Older age, mastectomy, and – in some women – glucocorticoid use add an extra risk of re-operation due to bleeding. Clinicians and their patients can use this information to evaluate the patient-specific risk of this complication.