Women With Mastectomies Have Natural Alternative

Even with lumpectomy and radiation, one-third of breast cancer patients still need a mastectomy because the tumor is too large or the breast too small to get a good cosmetic result.

Many more mastectomy patients now opt for breast reconstruction. And that technique has gotten much better.

"It's, like, something I feel funny," said Jenny Choo, a breast cancer survivor. "I have kind of, like, (a) sixth sense: '(Do) I have cancer?'"

Choo was only 38 when she acted on that feeling, got tested and found out she had breast cancer. Worse yet, she needed a mastectomy.

"Mentally you feel, like, oh, I be, like, 'I'm not the normal lady,'" said Choo.

That's why Choo decided to have her breast reconstructed at the same time as her original mastectomy. That's something that is no longer considered medically risky.

"It doesn't get in the way of monitoring or surveillance of the tumor," said Dr. Jamie Levine, of Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. "Nor does it get in the way for any kind of postsurgical adjuvant therapy, like chemotherapy or radiation."

In general, women have two choices for breast reconstruction: some type of implant or using their own tissue to make a new breast. The latter is typically done taking abdominal muscles, tunneling them under the chest wall to form a breast, called a tram-flap.

"This takes a lot of tissue from the abdominal wall and means that you have more of a risk of having a potential for hernia or other deformity in there," said Levine.

Now, surgeons have developed a different approach that takes tissue from the lower abdomen and transplants it to the chest wall. It requires microsurgery to attack the free-flap to a blood supply, but you get a tummy tuck thrown in while avoiding the tramflap problems.

"Psychologically, it's been shown to make a difference in the patient's feelings of and emotions postoperatively," said Dr. Karen Hiotis, also of Bellevue Hospital Center.

The results are very natural and can be matched to look like the natural breast. This requires an experienced microsurgeon and it takes longer than other reconstructive techniques but the results are often worth it.