A new reconstruction technique from plastic surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center takes the best of two microsurgical procedures to use abdominal and other tissue to recreate the breast after a mastectomy.
Named Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery-Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery, or SADIE Flap, the technique uses existing techniques when traditional methods like DIEP or SIEA aren’t appropriate.
“In traditional SIEA flaps, there can be considerable ‘mismatch’ of blood vessels when bypassed into the chest,” says Sumeet S. Teotia, MD, Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, who developed the procedure with Nicholas Haddock, MD, Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery, in a media release from UT Southwestern Medical Center.
“This is what can make the traditional SIEA flap inconsistent and unreliable in terms of success. In our approach, even though the technique and surgery demands high level of experience with usual DIEP/SIEA flats, there is no ‘mismatch’ of blood vessels, and the flow of blood is not burdened by any turbulence issues.”
The SADIE flap creates an “intermediate pipe system” and is able to bypass into the chest without size mismatches and end-to-end connections. This eliminates the build-up of debris into the arterial system. With the chest’s high-flow system, everything remains streamlined into the smaller system, according to Haddock in the release.
UT Southwestern Medical Center is known as an innovator in this field, being one of the first to offer a four-flap breast reconstruction. The four-flap reconstruction uses fat and skin from the backside of each leg and two areas on the stomach to reconstruct the breast using natural materials. Satisfaction scores from UT Southwestern’s department of Plastic Surgery are among the highest in the region.
[Source(s): UT Southwestern Medical Center, EurekAlert]
It is very important for breast cancer patients to be aware of the natural tissue options. This team of Drs Haddock and Teotia at UTSW continue to push the limits of modern medicine by creating more and more options for women to choose from. I mentor women and am very familiar with these techniques they use and their work has amazing results. The bottom line: this is the Go To team in the nation for providing the most progressive and efficient surgery available for breast reconstruction.