Collaboration between breast and reconstructive surgery in optimizing outcomes for women with breast cancer

Performing successful breast reconstruction after mastectomy requires communication and collaboration between the breast and reconstruction surgery teams. This allows for oncologic safety while providing esthetic and functional reconstruction. In this article, we discuss the numerous techniques we have adopted successfully into our breast reconstructive practice that were possible due to this collaboration including prophylactic lymphaticovenous bypass (LVB), tumor ultrasound-guided incision (TUGI), esthetic closure in patients not eligible or desiring reconstruction, nerve identification at time of mastectomy to allow for sensate reconstruction, and the prevention of chronic pain and strategic oncoplasty.