Fig. 6

DM dynamics for reconstructed patients and paired controls. Following surgery for reconstruction (t = 0 at second surgery), the hazard rate for DM displays a common pattern that is not dependent on the time from primary tumour removal to second surgery. On the contrary, the analogous analysis for controls (t = 0 at reference time, as defined in the “Patients and methods” section) displays a progressive change of the DM dynamics that is compatible with the time-related DM risk expected after primary tumour removal in the absence of the further surgical manoeuvre. Y-axis units are hazard rates for DM, i.e. the conditional probability of manifesting DM during an interval of 6 months, given that the patient is clinically DM free at the beginning of the interval. X-axis units are months between primary tumour removal and the second surgical manoeuvre