Sunday, October 28, 2007
12837

Three Year Experience with Alloderm in Breast Reconstruction

Julio Hochberg, MD, Jason Beck, BS, and James C. Yuen, MD.

The addition of Alloderm to breast reconstruction has been of great versatility to solve a variety of tissue deficits. We describe our experience using Alloderm for 3 years (2004-2007) in 107 consecutive reconstructions with tissue expanders (TE) and saline implants.

Mastectomies were performed following carcinomas, sarcomas, or for prophylaxis. A sub-muscular, sub-Alloderm pocket accommodates a PMT-textured TE. Alloderm of medium thickness (12x4 cm) was positioned in the lateral border of the PM, infero-laterally as a sling, to reinforce portions of ablated muscle, or to increase nipple projection.

Results: 62 patients had 107 mastectomies, 60 (56%) following carcinoma, and 47 (43.9%) for prophylaxis. average age 49 (30-70). Total skin sparing: 90 cases (84.2%), skin sparing: 10 (9.3%), and modified radical 7 (6.5%). Op-time: 12min per Alloderm segment.

Complications: seromas (15.8%), hematomas (3.73%), cellulitis (3.7%), severe infection (5.6%) requiring TE removal, TE perforation (3.7%), TE lateral displacement (0.9%), local recurrence (0.9%), rippling (0.9%), and BII contracture (10%). Cosmetic score 8.5.

In conclusion, Alloderm has simplified breast reconstruction with TE, diminished the operative time and lowered the rate of complications. In addition, Alloderm provides a high rate of patient satisfaction and a significant increase in prophylactic mastectomies due to positive expectations.


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