Modern breast reconstruction with endoscopically assisted latissimus dorsi flap harvesting

Abstract

Skin- and nipple-sparing mastectomies made immediate breast reconstruction possible on a systemic level within breast cancer surgery. Mass reconstruction needs brought by the most common malignancy in women can only be met by the use of implant-based techniques, providing excellent cosmetic results and high patient satisfaction. For these postmastectomy reconstructions the replacement of the skin is no longer a challenge, but the well vascularized, good quality soft tissue coverage of the implant. Oncoplastic breast surgery today is able to conduct oncologically radical complete removal of the glandular tissue through an incision of 6-10 cm made in the armpit, with the nearly scarless retention of the natural skin envelope of the breast, and in the same time adequate axillary staging (sentinel node biopsy/axillary lymphadenectomy) is performed, then using the same incision, the implementation of one-step or multi-step breast reconstruction is possible. During these complex interventions, the latissimus dorsi flap formed by endoscopic technique (leaving no scar on the back), rotated to the anterior chest wall can be used for total autologous reconstruction of low-volume breasts as complete coverage of implants placed under the spared skin-envelope or for revitalization of thin or radiation damaged breast skin. This paper presents 4 cases of breast reconstruction with endoscopically assisted latissimus dorsi muscle flap, and the authors demonstrate the surgical technique in detail and conduct a literature review, for the first time in Hungarian.