A minimally invasive approach to the placement of tissue expanders

Plastic surgeons are frequently faced with difficult and challenging soft tissue defects in all areas of the body. To reconstruct these defects, there are many operative approaches available to the reconstructive surgeon including skin grafts, local flaps, regional flaps, and free-tissue transfer. Despite these many options, occasionally the best alternative for reconstruction of a wound is tissue expansion, where skin of similar quality, texture, and color can be used to close a soft tissue defect. Unfortunately, there are significant problems related to tissue expander reconstruction including a complication rate as high as 50%. As a result, tissue expander reconstruction has not achieved the widespread popularity commensurate with its potential clinical utility. To reduce the complication rate related to open tissue expander placement, and consequently to improve its clinical utility, we have employed endoscopic techniques for the placement of tissue expanders. Endoscopic approaches are currently being used in many areas of surgery and have resulted in substantial benefits. Endoscopic placement of tissue expanders has the benefit of reducing operative time, major complication rate, time to full expansion, and length of hospital stay. The purpose of this article is to critically examine the current open technique for tissue expander placement and to compare this technique with minimally invasive endoscopic tissue expander placement. We will discuss in detail the current problems associated with open tissue expander placement, the benefits of endoscopic tissue expansion, the technique of endoscopic tissue expander placement, and the outcomes for these techniques.