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Oksana Garashchenko - PhD, surgeon of the highest category, oncosurgeon, plastic surgeon, mammologist. Founder and chief physician of the OKSAL.med clinic.

Oksana Garashchenko - PhD, surgeon of the highest category, oncosurgeon, plastic surgeon, mammologist. Founder and chief physician of the OKSAL.med clinic.

Mammology
Oncoplastic surgery
Plastic surgery

Oncoplastic surgery

The indications for reconstructive surgery for breast cancer are changes in the appearance of the operated breast. Oncoplastic surgery techniques allow to maximize the appearance of breasts and make them look more beautiful than before.

Dozens of studies have shown that breast reconstruction does not affect the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence, even when implants are used.

New surgical techniques in oncoplastic surgery can reconstruct a breast identical to the unoperated one, which improves the patient's quality of life, allowing her to face the disease more positively and lead a more active lifestyle both socially and sexually. Otherwise, it is difficult to hide the scar on half of the chest wall after a mastectomy and it is a constant reminder of the diagnosis of ‘cancer’.

Global trends in oncologic surgery are rapidly moving away from mastectomy, the complete removal of the breast. This surgery has no effect on the increase of the recurrence-free period or on the life expectancy of patients. After all, the continuation of the disease is the appearance of distant metastases to organs (liver, lungs, brain, ovaries, bones...).

Thanks to modern treatment methods: chemotherapy, targeted therapy, antihormone therapy, even before surgery, oncologists can significantly reduce the size of the tumor. Sometimes the treatment is so effective that the tumor even disappears. In this case the tumor becomes operable, and the operation becomes radical.

In recent years, reconstructive surgeries are performed at the same time as oncological surgeries. After removal of the tumor, when no cancer cells remain in the tissues, the reconstructive stage of surgery begins, namely, the restoration of the shape and volume of the breast, symmetrically with respect to the healthy breast.

Sometimes healthy breast is also operated on. If the other, healthy breast is too big, small, or sagging, an additional plastic surgery may be required to achieve a symmetrical result. These surgeries are called symmetrical surgeries. In these cases, the patient loses the tumor and immediately gets a more beautiful symmetrical breast than before, which significantly affects the positive outcome of the main cancer treatment, because after the intervention the patient wakes up with a sense of normalcy, which avoids the feeling of breast removal and provides an obvious psychological support.

Reconstruction is performed before or after the patient has completed the primary treatment indicated by her clinical oncologist, which may be chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, or targeted therapy.

 

HOW BREAST RECONSTRUCTION IS PERFORMED

Breast reconstruction can be performed using different methods. One method is to use tissue from another part of the body (back or abdominal muscles, also using fat from other parts of the body). Another method is to use silicone-based implants. And this is performed in one step - after removing the tumor. In addition, it is always possible to perform reconstruction of the nipple and areola.