Early Rehabilitation after Total Mastectomy and Immediate Reconstruction with Tissue Expander Insertion in Breast Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Case-control Study

To prevent surgical site complications, many plastic surgeons use the so-called "conventional protocol," which immobilizes the shoulder and upper arm for 1 month after reconstruction. In an effort to improve the shoulder mobility of patients who received immediate breast reconstruction with tissue expander insertion (TEI), we introduced an early rehabilitation protocol with a short-term immobilization period of 2 weeks. This study aims to...