Recent Modalities In Breast Reconstruction for Breast Cancer Patients

There’s no doubt that breast is very important part in the femnity of any female. The goal of breast reconstruction is to recreate symmetric natural-appearing breasts while preserving patient safety and quality of life. Many techniques exist for breast reconstruction but rarely do these produce true symmetry with the contralateral breast (Parikh et al., 2006).Great advances have been witnessed in breast reconstruction in the last 2 decades. With the introduction of the transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap by Hartrampf in the early 1980s, reconstruction with autogenous tissue has become more successful, thus gaining popularity. The primary advantage of the TRAM is that the consistency of the reconstructed breast is similar to the natural breast in softness and in the way the tissue drapes on the chest (Allen, 2003). Breast reconstruction with prosthetic implants remains the most common method of breast reconstruction today. According to The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), there is no definitive evidence links breast implants to cancer, immunologic diseases, neurologic problems or other systemic diseases. Proponents of autogenous reconstruction argue that the natural ”feel” and durability of a flap exceeds that of an implant (Parikh et al., 2006 Immediate reconstruction is done at the same setting with the mastectomy. An advantage to having immediate reconstruction is that the chest tissues are undamaged by radiation therapy or scarring. This often means that the final result looks better. Also, immediate reconstruction means one less surgery (Ananthakrishnan and Lucas, 2008).