Postoperative courses of breast reconstruction using inferior adipofascial tissue repair

Nevertheless in breast conserving surgery, the dissection of inferior part of breast mound will cause severe deformity, which affects the patient's quality of life adversely. We have used an infra-mammary adipofascial tissue to repair the defect, and breast mound could be reconstructed concurrently in primary breast cancer surgery.

From September 2009 to June 2012, we performed the infra-mammary adipofascial tissue repair (IATR) on 25 patients with breast cancer in inferior site of their breast mound. Surgeon makes the skin incision on the infra-mammary line and performs the quadrantectomy as planned. After verifying its negative surgical margin pathologically, we mobilize the adipofascial fat tissue associated with myofascia of the serratus anterior muscle from the infra-mammary area. This tongue-shaped flap is reflected back, and fills the defect of breast mound. We performed routinely examination, mammography, and ultra-sound echogram to the IATR patients who visited our hospital after 1 year from the end of treatment. We, furthermore, performed the QOL questionnaire (QOL-ACD and QOL-ACD-B) to them and retrospectively compared their data to that from the other breast surgery patients.

All patients with IATR were treated with irradiation, and no image findings of a partial or total necrosis of the flap recognized 1 year after examination. They produced good cosmetic results; however, they could not elevate the QOL score on the whole.