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Breast Surgery – BREAST RECONSTRUCTIONS “In terms of body expression, breasts are to women as penises are to men.” Breasts have an enormous importance to the preservation of the psychological integrity of women. The greatest cause of breast mutilation is cancer, when the mastologist (cancerologist) is obliged to total or partially amputate the breast to eradicate the disease (there are other causes such as burns, abscesses. etc, that can also mutilate the breasts, but much less statistically important). Formerly, in cases of cancer, the breast was totally amputated as a routine and there was no immediate breast reconstruction. This was a terrible suffering period for a woman since, besides the great uncertainties regarding the disease, she also was burdened with the loss of one of her organs of great importance, a symbol of her sex and femininity. Today breast cancer treatment is multidisciplinary, involving a clinical oncologist, radiotherapist, pathologist, physiotherapist, psychologist etc., and the indispensable binomial, mastologist and plastic surgeon. It is indispensable that the plastic surgeon and the mastologist work together during the breast cancer operation be it for an immediate breast reconstruction or as support to the mastologist regarding the preparation of the site for a late reconstruction. BREAST RECONSTRUCTIONS Classification:
Total breast reconstruction: applied to cases in which the mastologist or cancerologist remove the entire breast to treat the disease. In this case, we have the following basic techniques: Partial breast reconstruction: For cases that the mastologist removed only part of the breast. (Quadrantectomies). The basic techniques are: |
