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One of the goals of immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is to satisfy the patient's outcome. Recent studies therefore tended to focus on the patient's perception of the care and on the impact on quality of life using patients-reported-outcome-measures (PROMs), able to measure the health status directly without the clinician's interposition. We present a preliminary prospective study on 333 patients who underwent mastectomy with IBR in a two-year period, in a single Italian centre, using a dedicated PROMs, the BREAST-Q™, to determine the patient's satisfaction. We studied two groups of IBR: Group A (two-step with tissue-expander) and Group B (one-step: prosthesis/mesh) and conducted a pre- and post-operative comparison for each group to evaluate score-gain over time, and a group-score comparison to determine whether differences were significant between reconstruction types. Two-hundred-and-nine were actually enrolled and 132 completed all the questionnaires. The response rate was 62.8% and the compliance rate (completion of all the questionnaires) was 63.1%. In both groups all the analyzed domains worsened comparing the pre and post-operative period; the differences were statistically significant only for physical and sexual-wellbeing. In the comparison between the two groups, none of the detected differences reached the statistical significance. According to our experience, we can state that PROMs could improve the health concept redefining the variables to be monitored even if data is still insufficient to draw any definitive conclusion. PROMs can help surgeons and patients decide the most appropriate surgery for a particular patient-profile and to identify those who require further support., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To compare corneal thickness (CT) measurements obtained with SP3000P specular microscope and Pentacam in eyes screened to undergo refractive surgery (RS)., Methods: In this prospective study, a non-randomized consecutive series of 73 healthy eyes (age range: 14-78 years; mean=38.4±14.9) underwent CT measurement with both Oculus Pentacam and Topcon SP3000P specular microscope to assess their suitability to undergo corneal RS., Results: CT measurements with SP3000P ranged from 451 to 609 μs (mean 523.1±34.4 μs). The measurements obtained with Pentacam ranged at the corneal apex from 477 to 672 μs (mean 558.9±38.9 μs), at the pupil center from 477 to 672 μs (mean 557.9±38.9 μs) and at the thinnest point from 474 to 669 μs (mean 551.1±39.4 μs). CT measurements showed a good correlation but a statistically significant difference at the pupil center (mean -34.9±14.6 μs, R(2)=0.860, p<0.001), at the apex (mean -35.9±14.9 μs, R(2)=0.856, p<0.001) and at the thinnest point (mean -32±14.8 μs, R(2)=0.862, p<0.001). The calculated regression formulas were: y=0.816x+66.94 for the apex, y=0.819x+66.07 for the pupil center and y=0.810x+73.13 for the thinnest point; where y is the CT measured with the SP3000P and x is the measurement obtained with the Oculus Pentacam., Conclusions: Our results suggest that SP3000P measures thinner corneas compared to the Pentacam and that the correcting factor we identified should be applied to make comparisons between these two devices., (Copyright © 2014 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)