ABSTRACT
As indications of radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer continue to expand, more and more patients need radiotherapy after mastectomy. With the development of breast reconstruction, radiotherapy and its timing will affect breast reconstruction while patients benefit from tumor treatment and may lead to different postoperative complications and cosmetic effects. How to optimize the comprehensive therapeutic strategies of postoperative breast reconstruction and radiotherapy for breast cancer, especially the techniques of breast reconstruction and the choices of radiotherapy timing, has become an issue of common concerns of multidisciplinary treatment involving radiotherapy, breast surgery, and plastic surgery. This paper aims to review and summarize the latest high-quality research in this field including the impact of radiotherapy and its timing on tissue expander/prosthetic breast reconstruction, rate of prosthetic reconstruction, and postoperative patient satisfaction so that scholars can understand the latest research progress of radiotherapy and breast reconstruction and clinicians can optimize therapeutic regimens.