Breast Reconstruction

Breast reconstruction is the rebuilding of a breast, usually in women. It involves using autologous tissue or prosthetic material to construct a natural-looking breast. Often this includes the reformation of a natural-looking areola and nipple. This procedure involves the use of implants or relocated flaps of the patient's own tissue.

The primary part of the procedure can often be carried out immediately following the mastectomy. As with many other surgeries, those with significant medical comorbidities individuals who smoke are higher-risk candidates. Surgeons may choose to perform delayed reconstruction to decrease this risk. Patients expected to receive external beam radiation as part of their adjuvant treatment are also commonly considered for delayed autologous reconstruction due to significantly higher complication rates with tissue expander-implant techniques in those patients.

Breast reconstruction is a large undertaking that usually takes multiple operations. Sometimes these follow-up surgeries are spread out over weeks or months. If an implant is used, the individual runs the same risks and complications as those who use them for breast augmentation but has higher rates of capsular contracture and revisional surgeries.

Recovery from implant-based reconstruction is generally faster than with flap-based reconstructions, but both take at least three to six weeks to recover and both require follow-up surgeries in order to construct a new areola and nipple. All recipients of these operations should refrain from strenuous sports, overhead lifting and sexual activity during the recovery period. TRAM flap patients can show abdominal muscle weakness on EMG studies, but clinically most patients return to normal activities after recovery.

There is little information about upper body exercise post-mastectomy. Issues such as simple mastectomy, mastectomy with reconstruction, mastectomy with lymph node excision and reconstruction all factor into limitations to amount and extent of upper body exercise. Generally, cardiac exercise are approved for rehabilitation post-surgery and for weight control. Women who have undergone breast reconstruction must still be followed for local or regional recurrence of their cancer with manual exams of the breast/chest wall and axilla.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• American Society of Plastic Surgeons

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