Reverse Expansion Following Nipple Sparing Mastectomy: A Natural, Safe and Effective Autologous Technique for Breast Reconstruction

The majority of surgeons choose an implant-based breast reconstruction after mastectomy. Nevertheless, lipofilling is a constantly growing technique allowing a complete breast reconstruction without prosthesis. We introduce our experience using reverse expansion for breast reconstruction following a nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) with a subpectoral skin expander. In the period January 2010–August 2021, 106 breast reconstruction procedures were performed on 50 patients after a NSM. We harvested an amount of fat tissue using a 2.5 mm liposuction cannula, we centrifuged it 3 min at 4000 rpm and injected in the recipient site using 3 ml syringes and Coleman cannulas. At the beginning of every session, the breast expander was deflated of a saline volume similar to the one of the fat to be injected. We harvested an average of 679.2 ccs of fat per session and injected an average of 319.3 ccs per breast. The mean number of sessions has been 2.4 per breast. The average number of sessions in a radiotreated patients’ subgroup has been slightly higher than a control group. The mean follow-up time was 63.5 months and we observed no complications in 105 over 106 procedures. Lipofilling has proven to be a safe and effective technique for complete breast reconstruction. Our procedure considers the use of a breast expander as a device to prepare the recipient site. Reverse expansion after a NSM allows a like-with-like reconstruction and it might be the first reconstructive choice in a selected group of patients.

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