Specific volume of female subcutaneous abdominal tissue as a reference in autologous breast reconstruction

Use of the deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap is gaining popularity as the method of choice for breast reconstruction and replacement of prosthetic breast implants. Ideally, the volume of the prosthesis is replaced by the same volume of autologous tissue to restore shape and symmetry. Still, intraoperative tissue volumetry is not practical under sterile circumstances. The first step toward a clinical intraoperative measure for volume matching would be to acquire knowledge of the specific density of female subcutaneous abdominal fat tissue. The weight and volume of abdominoplasty specimens from 32 women were measured. From these data, the specific volume of DIEP flap tissue was calculated. The mean specific density was 1.12 mL/g (range, 1.02 to 1.32 mL/g; standard deviation 0.04). An approximate volume-to-weight conversion multiplier of 1.1 may serve as an intraoperative tool to estimate the volume of a DIEP flap from its weight.