[Experience with Thoracoepigastric Flap Reconstruction after Mastectomy]

We report 2 cases in which skin grafting was avoided by utilizing thoracoepigastric following mastectomy with extensive skin defects due to advanced breast cancer extensively involving the breast.Case 1: A 53-year-old woman was diagnosed with right breast cancer extending to the midline of the chest.She underwent total mastectomy of the right breast, resection of the midline chest skin, and sentinel lymph node biopsy.Intraoperative frozen section analysis revealed positive sentinel nodes, prompting additional axillary lymph node dissection.Due to the extensive skin defect caused by resection of the midline chest skin, a thoracoepigastric flap was created to achieve wound closure.The postoperative course was uneventful.Case 2: A 64-year-old woman developed an intramammary recurrence of right breast cancer during follow-up after prior surgery.The recurrent tumor had extensively spread throughout the breast, with widespread erythema noted on the overlying skin.Multiple axillary lymph node metastases were also present, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy was initiated.Following chemotherapy, she underwent right total mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection.A thoracoepigastric flap was used for wound closure.Her postoperative course was free of complications.