Breast cancer affects 1/7 women in the U.S., making it the most common malignancy in women. Despite the equivalence of breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy, 34% of women opt for mastectomy for a variety of reasons. Breast reconstruction is a continually evolving entity that ranges in complexity from the use of prostheses to autogenous tissue. While alloplastic reconstruction remains the most popular option, the use of autogenous tissue has been shown to create a more natural breast, which ultimately requires less subsequent surgical intervention and provides the highest patient satisfaction.
In the realm of autogenous breast reconstruction, the most commonly used flaps are abdominally based (the muscle-sparing transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (MS-TRAM), superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA), and deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps. However, the differences regarding safety, factors contributing to complications, and overall patient desires, requires that these decisions be highly individualized.
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