Comparison of Different Acellular Dermal Matrix in Breast Reconstruction: A Skin-to-Skin Study

Steven P Davison; Skylar Harbour; Eliana Fassihi

doi:10.1093/asj/sjae035

Comparison of Different Acellular Dermal Matrix in Breast Reconstruction: A Skin-to-Skin Study

Aesthet Surg J. 2024 Feb 20:sjae035. doi: 10.1093/asj/sjae035. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Steven P Davison¹, Skylar Harbour², Eliana Fassihi²

Affiliations

¹ Plastic Surgeon in private practice, Washington, DC, USA.
² Private plastic surgery practice, Washington, DC, USA.

PMID: 38377366
DOI: 10.1093/asj/sjae035

Abstract

Background: Since the early 2000s, Acellular Dermal Matrix has been a popular adjunct to prepectoral breast reconstruction to enhance outcomes.

Objectives: This study investigated the differences in the postoperative course of two standard acellular dermal matrix companies, AlloDerm SELECT Ready To Use and DermACELL.

Methods: A prospective, patient-blind study of patients undergoing bilateral nipple and/or skin-sparing mastectomies to either tissue expander or silicone implant insertion between 2019 to 2022 were selected for this study. The study design used patients as their own controls between two products randomly assigned to the left or right breast. Outcomes between the brands included average time for drain removal, infection rate, seroma rate, and incorporation rates.

Results: Prospective clinical data of 55 patients (110 breasts) was recorded for 90 days. There were no significant differences between drain removal time, average drain output, or seroma aspiration amount. There was a higher percentage of seromas recorded in the breasts with AlloDerm (30.91%) compared to breasts containing DermACELL (14.55%, p < 0.05), and a statistically significant difference between incorporation rates of AlloDerm (93.4%) and DermACELL (99.8%, p < 0.05) was observed.

Conclusions: Irrespective of patient demographic disparities, both products had a 94.55% success rate for reconstruction outcomes. AlloDerm was determined to have a higher incidence of seromas as a postoperative complication and a trend to lower incorporation.