Immediate Prepectoral Tissue Expander Breast Reconstruction Without Acellular Dermal Matrix Is Equally Safe Following...

Area of Science:

• Plastic Surgery
• Breast Reconstruction Techniques
• Oncologic Surgery Outcomes

Background:

• Prepectoral breast reconstruction is gaining popularity.
• Limited data exists on mastectomy type impact in prepectoral reconstruction without acellular dermal matrix (ADM).
• Tissue expander use in prepectoral reconstruction is a key focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare 90-day surgical outcomes of prepectoral tissue expander reconstruction.
• Evaluate outcomes between nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) and skin-sparing mastectomy (SSM).
• Assess complication rates in immediate prepectoral reconstruction without ADM.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 79 patients (97 breasts) from June 2020 to December 2021.
• Included patients undergoing NSM or SSM with immediate prepectoral tissue expander reconstruction without ADM.
• Complications were recorded, categorized, and statistically analyzed.

Main Results:

• Overall complication rate was 22.7% (22 of 97 breasts).
• No statistically significant difference in total complications between NSM (25.7%) and SSM (21.0%) groups.
• Incidence of major and minor complications did not differ significantly between groups.

Conclusions:

• Tissue expander breast reconstruction without ADM yields similar outcomes for NSM and SSM.
• No significant differences in complication rates were observed between the mastectomy types.
• Reconstruction without ADM provides institutional cost savings without compromising patient safety.