plastic surgery
Post conservative surgery
Post quadrantectomy
The choice between performing a mastectomy and a quadrantectomy depends on the relationship between the volume of the tumour and that of the breast, the risk of recurrence and the aesthetic results that each operation can achieve.
Breast-conserving surgery techniques involve the removal of the breast tumour while preserving the gland, which is reshaped to restore its shape and promote symmetry. In addition, the operation is followed by radiotherapy, an indispensable completion of quadrantectomy to ensure complete oncological control of the disease and to eliminate any residual neoplastic cells.
Sometimes, however, the surgeon removes a large portion of breast tissue: although the breast is preserved, it is still possible to notice a lack in terms of volume. The shape of the operated breast, in these cases, is altered, deformed and asymmetrical, and the appearance can be worsened by radiotherapy, which can cause further scar retraction.
Post conservative breast surgery solutions
Surgery offers solutions to correct the breast asymmetry left by quadrantectomy operations to remove breast cancer. It is possible:
Operate the healthy breast by subjecting it to a breast reduction operation
To intervene on the breast already operated, correcting the retractions and increasing the volume
In this second case, the best solution is represented by lipofilling which is fat grafts, since the insertion of foreignmaterial such as prostheses could lead to numerous complications. The fat taken from other areas of the body (such as the abdomen, thighs and buttocks), on the other hand, since it contains stem cells, can improve the quality of the skin and promotes the healing of tissues subjected to radiotherapy.
To achieve symmetry, several operations may be required, all small and under local anaesthesia, since in general about 50% of the tissue transferred during the lipostructure phase to the breast undergoes cell death and is therefore eliminated from the body.
