Assurance of flap symmetry following mastectomy using intraoperative measurement

Surgical procedures which involve resection of breast tissue in large proportions generally involve the generation of large skin and subcutaneous tissue flaps. An elipse of skin, resected with the breast tissue between two incisions raises the possibility of flap length assymmetry, and therefore, the possibility of closure difficulties. In patients with large breasts, peripheral lesions or multiple lesions who have had previous surgical treatment, this problem becomes more technically challenging requiring greater care in planning the incision and flaps. A simple technique using premastectomy measurement of the proposed incision line has been applied in well over 250 patients demonstrating all of these technically challenging problems and producing reliable and extremely cosmetically acceptable results.