Some women who have a mastectomy may also have radiotherapy after their surgery to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Your surgeon will be able to discuss with you whether this may affect the type and timing of your breast reconstruction.

Radiotherapy after a reconstruction using a breast implant can sometimes affect the implant. It can increase the risk of capsular contracture. Also, the appearance of the reconstructed breast may not be as good after radiotherapy. If you are to have radiotherapy, your doctors may suggest the implant is put in some time after you have completed the radiotherapy. Specialised radiotherapy using photon or electron beam radiotherapy can be successfully used following a reconstruction using an implant.

If tissue expansion is being used, radiotherapy will not be given while the expansion is being done. It may be given either before or after the expansion. In some patients it helps to remove fluid from the expander during radiotherapy, with the expander being re-inflated two weeks after completion of radiotherapy. This helps keep the skin on the breast healthy. After the radiotherapy, the filled implant can be removed and replaced with a permanent implant or the implant is removed and a tissue flap reconstruction performed.

If radiotherapy is given after a breast reconstruction using skin and muscle flaps, there is a risk that problems may occur with the tissue flap used to form the new breast, such as shrinkage or hardening of the flap. For this reason, if your doctors think you may need radiotherapy after a mastectomy, they may suggest you have a delayed breast reconstruction using a muscle flap.