Breast Reconstruction Procedure
Latissimus Dorsi Breast Reconstruction
Breast reconstruction using the latissimus flap is usually a combination approach that uses some of your own tissues and an implant. The skin and latissimus muscle from the back is moved around to the breast while keeping it attached to its blood supply in the arm pit area. This tissue is then used to replace any missing breast skin that has been removed at the time of mastectomy or to replace damaged skin in the setting of radiation. Rarely, the breast can be reconstructed out of the tissues from the back alone, but most patients require the addition of an implant to give additional volume to the breast. Depending on your particular situation, this may be done in one stage with placement of the implant at the time of the flap, or in two stages with placement of a tissue expander at the time of the flap and an exchange for an implant at a second stage.
This technique can be helpful in patients who are not candidates for abdominal based reconstruction due to prior abdominal surgery or blood clotting disorders, but need the addition of healthy skin and tissue to the breast reconstruction instead of implants alone. This can be particularly true in patients who have had radiation. The surgery is shorter and the recovery is slightly faster than the abdominal/D IEP flap surgery, but is more involved than tissue expanders/implants alone.
