Preservation of the Contralateral Abdominal Flap Following Harvest of Unilateral Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery Perforator Flap for Staged Bilateral Breast Reconstruction

Abstract

Simultaneous bilateral breast reconstruction using two DIEAP flaps is considered as the gold standard. However, the operation is lengthy and requires two plastic surgery teams with high expertise. In cases where the bilateral reconstruction is staged, either another donor area is required or an implant is used, because the unused abdominal tissue is discarded in the first operation. We describe a new technique to preserve the contralateral half of the abdomen for staged bilateral breast reconstruction. This would decrease the operating time significantly especially for teams where there is only a single experienced plastic surgeon.