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British team pioneers reconstruction technique using enriched tissue
A remarkable reconstruction technique is being trialled by British surgeons, who are harvesting stem-cell-enriched fat from women’s bodies to plug the dip often left by breast cancer operations.
The procedure appears to restore the softness and suppleness of breast tissues, undoing the damage frequently caused by lumpectomy and radiotherapy. Early signs indicate that it also eases the considerable pain with which patients are often left after treatment.
More than 31,000 women a year in Britain with early-stage breast cancer undergo operations in which just the lump and a healthy margin of tissue around it are removed. The cavity left in the breast following surgery can vary from a dimple to a mini-crater, but the dip invariably becomes more pronounced following radiotherapy, which most patients need. Irradiation damages the blood supply to the breast and shrinks and toughens overlying skin so that it sticks to the chest wall. Nerves can get trapped in the resulting scar tissue, causing constant discomfort. Although some surgeons have had short-term success with simple fat transfers – liposuctioning fat from elsewhere and injecting it into the breast hollow – the blob of fat struggles to get a decent blood supply.
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