**1. Introduction**

Breast cancer was the most common malignant disease in the general population worldwide, contributing 12.5% of the total number of new cases and 25.8% of new cases in females diagnosed in 2020 [1]. The average woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer diagnosis is as high as 12–13%, that is, statistically, one in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her life [2].

Due to population screening programmes and increased breast awareness in the developed world, breast cancer is nowadays detected predominantly (80%) in the preclinical and early stages of the disease. With the multidisciplinary management and the modern multimodal treatments, in this subgroup of patients, the oncological outcomes are excellent, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate reaching over 95%. Moreover, the cumulative 10-year OS rate of 70–80% has been reported as well [3].

In addition to conventional oncologic outcomes, quality of life (QoL) has emerged as an important outcome measure and has been recently established in breast cancer management evaluation. The world's most prevalent cancer, with 2.3 million newly diagnosed patients yearly and 7.8 million new breast cancer survivors every 5 years [4], clearly justifies the QoL evaluation in all breast cancer management trials.

The ultimate goals of modern breast cancer surgery are optimal local and regional control of the disease, associated with minimal morbidity and enhanced aesthetic outcomes.
