Objective: Myofascial adhesions are an important cause of upper extremity dysfunction among breast cancer surgery (BCS) patients. Myofascial-adhesions-in-patients-after-breast-cancer (MAP-BC) is a quantitative method developed to assess scar tissue and adhesions. This study aims to create a Turkish version of the MAP-BC tool and to test its validity and reliability.
Materials and methods: This cross-cultural adaptation and validation study included 81 female BCS patients aged 18-80 years. For convergent validity, patients were assessed using MAP-BC and the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale observer subscale. For test-retest reliability, the patients were assessed on days 0 and 14. Thirty-two patients were evaluated by a second researcher to assess interrater reliability.
Results: Validity was fair to good (rho = 0.631). For test-retest reliability, intraclass correlation (ICC) values for the subgroups ranged from 0.798 to 0.954, with an ICC = 0.948 for the total score, indicating good-to-excellent test-retest reliability. Interrater ICC values ranged from 0.417 to 0.949, with ICC = 0.938 for the total score, suggesting good to excellent interrater agreement, except for the "frontal chest wall" section.
Conclusion: The Turkish MAP-BC tool is valid and reliable for evaluating myofascial adhesions and scars after BCS and adjuvant treatments. Clinicians are encouraged to use MAP-BC to detect myofascial adhesions and evaluate treatment efficacy, as this is the first tool available in Turkish for this purpose.
Keywords: Breast cancer; myofascial adhesion; myofascial dysfunction; scar tissue.
©Copyright 2026 by the Turkish Federation of Breast Diseases Societies / European Journal of Breast Health published by Galenos Publishing House.