Safety of Biologic and Immune-Modulating Agents in Breast Augmentation and Reconstruction

What To Know

This retrospective EHR study used TriNetX data to compare patients who had breast augmentation or implant-based reconstruction and had documented preoperative exposure to biologic or immune-modulating drugs within six months versus matched controls.

After propensity matching, the authors report no statistically significant differences in wound disruption, infection, seroma/hematoma, implant explantation or revision, or ED visits/readmissions at 30, 90, and 6 months.

The analysis included many classes of immune-active drugs (TNF-α inhibitors, interleukin inhibitors, calcineurin inhibitors, S1P modulators, JAK inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, complement inhibitors, DHODH inhibitors, and B-cell targeted antibodies) and adjusted for demographic and several clinical comorbidities and concurrent corticosteroid use.

The authors conclude preoperative biologic exposure was not associated with increased short-term postoperative morbidity in this dataset. This is an abstract-level report of a retrospective observational analysis, not a randomized trial, so it cannot prove causation or fully account for unmeasured confounding.

Results apply to the short-term outcomes reported (up to 6 months) and to implant-based breast procedures captured in the database.

If you are taking biologics and considering elective breast surgery, this study provides evidence—based on large EHR data—that continuing biologic therapy alone may not be linked to higher short-term surgical complication rates, but individual decisions should still involve discussion with your surgical and prescribing clinicians.