There can be more than one surgery type for breast reconstruction. It depends on the severity of your cancer. Here are the different types of breast reconstruction.
1. Flap Reconstruction
This is the most popular type of breast reconstruction. The surgeon takes tissues from your body, which are then used to form a breast. Usually, the tissues are procured from your lower abdomen (belly). In other cases, surgeons also consider tissues from the thigh, back or bottom. They remove skin, fat, muscles and blood vessels from these body parts to form a new breast.
This tissue is a flap. Flap reconstruction is often considered the best type of surgery when it comes to breast reconstruction. Here are the types of flap reconstruction.
- DIEP Flap: In this, surgeons take skin, blood vessels and fat from your lower belly. However, it does not consider the underlying abdominal belly muscles. A microscope (microsurgery) is used while completing this surgery. This is beneficial as it allows you to retain abdominal strength while reconstructing your breast.
- TRAM Flap: This is a contrast to the previous procedure. In this, surgeons remove abdominal muscles besides the skin, blood vessels and fat from your belly. While it can make you weaker in the abdominal area, it can improve your breast shape.
- SIEA Flap (or SIEP Dlap): This procedure is again similar to the previous one. However, the blood vessels are different. Only a few patients have the required blood vessels for this procedure. Therefore, it is not used frequently.
- Latissimus Dorsi (LD) Flap: For this procedure, surgeons remove tissues and muscles from the back. In this process, they transplant the LD flap, which is still connected to its own blood supply. The transplantation is done through the back to the breast area.
- IGAP Flap: Surgeons use flaps from the individual's buttocks in this procedure. The flaps mainly include tissues and not muscles. These are used to reconstruct the breasts.
- SGAP Flap: It is similar to the IGAP flap. It also removes tissues from your buttocks, not muscles, to reconstruct your breasts. However, the blood vessels used here are different.
- PAP Flap: Your surgeon removes tissue from the inner and back of your thigh for this surgery. However, it does not transplant muscles from your thigh. Surgeons use these flaps to develop a new breast.
- TUG Flap: This is similar to the PAP flap. It removes tissues from the inner and back of your thigh. It also removes muscles and tissues, differentiating them from the PAP flap.
Benefits
Success Rate of this Surgery
The success rate of this type is approximately 91% to 99%.
Cost of Surgery
The approximate cost of flap repair surgery is around ₹ 30,000 to ₹ 1,00,000.
2. Implant Reconstruction
This type of surgery requires the surgeons to use saline or silicone implants to recreate breast tissue. Surgeons also use a combination of implants and tissue from your body for this procedure. One can also do a mastectomy alongside this procedure. Here are the types of implant reconstruction.
- Above the Chest Muscle: As the name suggests, the surgeons will place the implants on top of the chest muscle. It is preferable since it keeps your chest muscles in the original position.
- Under the Chest Muscle: Your surgeon will likely lift the chest muscle. They place the implant below this muscle to recreate your breasts.
- Implant With Tissue Expander: Your surgeon will place an expander under your skin, and they will be responsible for filling up this expander with saline every week. Your skin will gradually expand and stretch, and surgeons will place the implants once it has expanded enough to cover it.
- Benefits
- It is comparatively a less invasive method.
- This method doesn’t require harvesting tissue from other parts of your body.
- Success Rate of this Surgery
- Cost of Surgery
3. Oncoplastic Reconstruction After Lumpectomy
Patients who undergo lumpectomy are likely to benefit from oncoplastic reconstruction. Your oncologic breast surgeon will determine if you are capable of undergoing breast conservation. You might require radiation when surgeons conduct a lumpectomy.
Surgeons use breast reduction techniques while conducting a lumpectomy while competing with oncoplastic reconstruction surgery. A breast reduction or breast lift allows the surgeons to fill in the defect created by the lumpectomy.
It also helps them to improve their breast shape. You might require a breast lift on the other breast to maintain a shape consistency.
- Benefits
- Allows medium to large-breasted women to conserve their mammary glands while removing the same breast tissue.
- Is a good option for inflammatory breast cancer
- Success Rate of this Surgery
- The overall success rate is around 95% and the disease survival rate is approximately 90% with an average of 4 years follow-up.
- Cost of Surgery
