Factors Influencing Patient Satisfaction With Breast Augmentation: A BREAST-Q Effect of Magnitude Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Breast augmentation is one of the most performed cosmetic surgeries. Despite this, patient satisfaction following breast augmentation is poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate what patient and surgical factors influence patient satisfaction following primary breast augmentation. METHODS: The BREAST-Q Augmentation module was sent to all females undergoing primary breast augmentation at a single private clinic (Amalieklinikken, Copenhagen, Denmark) between 2012 and 2019. Patient and surgical characteristics at the time of surgery were obtained from the patients' medical records, and data on factors that occurred after the surgery (eg, breastfeeding) were obtained by patient contact. Multivariate linear regression modeled the impact of these factors on BREAST-Q outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 554 females with a mean follow-up time of 5 years after primary breast augmentation were included in this study. Implant type and volume did not affect patient satisfaction. However, higher patient age was associated with significantly higher postoperative patient satisfaction, psychosocial well-being, and sexual well-being (P < .05). Conversely, higher patient BMI, postoperative weight gain, and breastfeeding were associated with significantly lower satisfaction (P < .05). Additionally, subglandular implant placement was associated with significantly lower satisfaction than submuscular implant placement (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Implant type and volume did not affect patient satisfaction with breast augmentation. However, young age, higher BMI, subglandular implant placement, and postoperative weight gain were associated with lower patient satisfaction. These factors should be considered when aligning outcome expectations with breast augmentation.

Fat Grafting With Expanded Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells for Breast Augmentation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The main challenge with fat grafting is loss of some of the graft to postsurgery resorption. Previous studies suggest that adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) can improve the volume retention of fat grafts but there is a lack of randomized trials to support the use of ASCs in clinical practice. OBJECTIVES: This trial aimed to investigate whether ASCs improve fat graft volume retention in patients undergoing breast augmentation with lipofilling. METHODS: This was a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of breast augmentation with ASC-enriched fat grafting. Healthy women aged 30 to 45 years were enrolled. First, the participants underwent liposuction to obtain fat for culture expansion of ASCs. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to undergo a 300- to 350-mL breast augmentation with ASC-enriched fat grafting (10 × 106 ASCs/mL fat graft) to 1 of their breasts and placebo-enriched fat grafting of identical volume to the contralateral breast. The primary outcome was fat graft volume retention after a 1-year follow-up measured with MRI. The trial is registered at www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu (EudraCT-2014-000510-59). RESULTS: Ten participants were included in the trial; all completed the treatment and follow-up. No serious adverse events occurred. Fat graft volume retention after 1 year was 54.0% (95% CI, 30.4%-77.6%) in the breasts treated with ASC-enriched fat grafting (n = 10) and 55.9% (95% CI, 28.9%-82.9%) in the contralateral breasts treated with placebo-enriched fat grafting (n = 10) (P = 0.566). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this trial do not support that ASC-enriched fat grafting is superior to standard fat grafting for breast augmentation.

Breast Augmentation with Microtextured Anatomical Implants in 653 Women: Indications and Risk of Rotation.

BACKGROUND: Anatomical implants provide a wide range of options in terms of implant dimensions for breast augmentation. Nevertheless, many surgeons choose not to use anatomical implants due to the risk of rotation malposition and because their advantages over round implants are not clearly defined. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records was performed on all women who underwent breast augmentation or implant exchange with microtextured anatomical implants from 2012 to 2019 in a single private clinic. The authors focused on the outcomes of a subgroup of women with glandular ptosis and nipple placement below the inframammary fold who underwent breast augmentation with anatomical implants. Furthermore, the incidence and risk factors for implant rotation were analyzed. RESULTS: In total, 653 women underwent primary breast augmentation (n = 529) or implant exchange (n = 124) with anatomical implants. The median follow-up period was 2.7 years (interquartile range, 1.6 to 3.9 years). The incidence of implant rotation was 14 (2.6 percent) in the primary augmentation group and four (3.2 percent) in the implant exchange group. Implant rotation was not associated with type of surgery (p = 0.76), implant projection (p = 0.23), or implant height (p = 0.48). The authors successfully used anatomical implants to elevate the nipple in 92.9 percent of the women with glandular ptosis without using a mastopexy. CONCLUSIONS: The study results indicate that the rotation risk with microtextured implants is similar to that with macrotextured implants. Furthermore, the authors found that high-projection anatomical implants can be used as an alternative to augmentation-mastopexy in women with glandular ptosis. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.

New Validated Method for Measuring Fat Graft Retention in the Breast with MRI.

In this study, we present a new method for measuring fat graft volume retention in the breast based on magnetic resonance imaging scans and a validation study to assess its accuracy and precision. The method was validated by 4 observers using the magnetic resonance imaging scans of 14 patients undergoing breast augmentation with fat grafting. The method was translated into software and was used to measure the change in breast volume from a preoperative scan to a postoperative scan recorded within 3 hours after the surgery, which was compared with the injected fat graft volume. The new method measured the injected fat graft volumes with an average systematic overestimation of 6.3% (SD, 10.5). The median interobserver variation was <7%. We propose that this new method can be a good alternative to previous techniques for clinical research purposes. The software can be made available upon request free of charge for use on the MeVisLab platform.

The current gold standard breast volumetry technique seems to overestimate fat graft volume retention in the breast: A validation study.

BACKGROUND: MRI is generally considered as the gold standard for measuring breast volume because of its high accuracy of the modality. Many techniques used to measure total breast volume have been validated, but none of these techniques have been validated for their ability to measure the volume retention of fat grafts in the breast. In this study, the authors investigated the accuracy of the most common MRI technique used to measure fat graft retention in the breast by measuring the volume changes after breast augmentation. METHODS: Patients undergoing breast augmentation with either breast implants or fat grafting underwent MRI scans before and after surgery. Blinded observers measured the change in breast volume from the MRI scans. The difference between the measured change in breast volume and the volume of the breast augmentation was used to determine the accuracy of the MRI technique. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients with a total of 56 breasts were included. In total, 168 measurements of change in breast volume were performed by the observers. The MRI measurements of change in breast volume overestimated the true volumes of the breast augmentations by an average of 50.8%, and only 8 of the 168 individual measurements had measurement errors below 50 mL. CONCLUSION: The MRI technique, which is considered as the gold standard for the quantification of fat graft volume retention, was associated with a significant measurement error. These findings have potential implications for the interpretation of previously published results of studies based on this technique.

Avoiding a Systematic Error in Assessing Fat Graft Survival in the Breast with Repeated Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Several techniques for measuring breast volume (BV) are based on examining the breast on magnetic resonance imaging. However, when techniques designed to measure total BV are used to quantify BV changes, for example, after fat grafting, a systematic error is introduced because BV changes lead to contour alterations of the breast. The volume of the altered breast includes not only the injected volume but also tissue previously surrounding the breast. Therefore, the quantitative difference in BV before and after augmentation will differ from the injected volume. Here, we present a new technique to measure BV changes that compensates for this systematic error by defining the boundaries of the breast to immovable osseous pointers. This approach avoids the misinterpretation of tissue included within the expanded boundaries as graft tissue. This new method of analysis may be a reliable tool for assessing BV changes to determine fat graft retention and may be useful for evaluating and comparing available surgical techniques for breast augmentation and reconstruction using fat grafting.

Blood flow autoregulation in pedicled flaps.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical work on the blood perfusion in skin and muscle flaps has suggested that some degree of blood flow autoregulation exists in such flaps. An autoregulatory mechanism would enable the flap to protect itself from changes in the perfusion pressure. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate if, and to what extent, a tissue flap could compensate a reduction in blood flow due to an acute constriction of the feed artery. Further, we wanted to examine the possible role of smooth muscle L-type calcium channels in the autoregulatory mechanism by pharmacological intervention with the L-type calcium channel blocker nimodipine and the vasodilator papaverine. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Pedicled flaps were raised in pigs. Flow in the pedicle was reduced by constriction of the feed artery (n=34). A transit time flow probe measured the effect on blood flow continuously. Following this, three different protocols were followed: (1) Time control (n=10): the procedure described above was repeated in the same flap to determine whether autoregulatory efficiency changed over time. (2) Nimodipine infusion (n=13): continuous intra-arterial infusion of nimodipine (0.2mg/ml, 0.5 ml/min) started when the flow had returned to the initial value. After stabilisation, the flow was reduced. When the flow had been stable for at least 5 min, the constriction was removed. (3) Nimodipine and papaverine (n=8): the infusion of nimodipine was followed by an intra-arterial bolus of papaverine (10mg). After stabilisation, the flow in the pedicle was reduced and the flow was recorded. RESULTS: The flaps showed a strong autoregulatory response with complete compensation for flow reductions of up to 70-80%. Infusion of nimodipine caused a 28+/-10% increase in blood flow and removed the autoregulation. Papaverine caused a further increase in blood flow by 61+/-19%. The time control experiments proved that the experimental procedure was reproducible and stable over time. CONCLUSIONS: A tissue flap can nearly completely compensate for repeated flow reductions of up to 70-80%. This is due to a decrease in the peripheral resistance, mediated by a local intrinsic mechanism. Nimodipine (a blocker of L-type voltage-activated calcium channels) abolishes the autoregulation, but a significant vasodilatory reserve exists, as an additional injection of papaverine (a smooth muscle relaxant) results in a further increase in the blood flow. This strongly suggests a direct role for voltage-activated calcium channels in the autoregulatory process.

Long-term outcome after mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to investigate long term outcome for women who had undergone mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patient files of 167 immediately reconstructed breast cancer patients were reviewed for late surgical complications. Furthermore, information of local recurrence rate, radiotherapy and death was obtained from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group register. Histopatological high and low risk patients were compared with respect to locoregional recurrence rate, recurrence free survival and death. Unpaired t-test and Fisher's exact test were used to test for significance. RESULTS: The overall rate of revision surgery was 27%. Reconstruction with implants was associated with a significantly higher rate of revision surgery compared to reconstructions with transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap or latissimus dorsi flap without implant (36 vs. 14%; p=0.004). The locoregional recurrence rate was 6%. Patients with histopathologically high risk disease had increased death rate (22 vs. 6%; p=0.03) and shorter disease free survival (89+/-43 months vs. 104+/-35 months; p=0.048) compared with low risk disease. We found no increase in the occurrence of capsular contracture in our study group in patients who received radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: Immediate breast reconstruction seems to be oncologically safe. Breast reconstruction performed with implants was associated with a higher risk of late complications, as was histopathologically high risk disease with increased death rate and shorter disease free survival.

Abdominal strength after breast reconstruction using a free abdominal flap.

BACKGROUND: Today, breast reconstruction with autologous tissue is most commonly done either as a free muscle sparring TRAM flap or as a DIEP flap. Studies of donor site morbidity have shown an advantage in using the DIEP flap. However, this procedure might also be associated with an increased risk of flow related complications and it is also thought to be more demanding and time consuming. A few studies have evaluated the abdominal wall strength after dissection of a TRAM flap or a DIEP flap. However, these studies do not distinguish between the various types of free TRAM flaps and they also compare TRAM procedures preformed in an early period to DIEP procedures done in a later period. METHODS: We used an isokinetic dynamometer to measure concentric, eccentric and isometric abdominal muscle strength in 32 patients who had had a unilateral breast reconstruction with a free MS-2 (15) or a DIEP (17) flap in the year 2003. RESULTS: No significant reduction in muscle strength was observed for concentric or isometric muscle strength. However, significant lower eccentric muscle strength was found in the TRAM compared to the DIEP group (p=0.05). There was no significant difference in abdominal strength between the two flap groups at low to moderate work intensity (isometric/concentric). At the greatest work intensity (eccentric muscle strength) the patients reconstructed with a DIEP flap had a clinical small, but significant advantage over the patients reconstructed with a MS-2 TRAM flap.

Ten years' experience of free flaps for breast reconstruction in a Danish microsurgical centre: an audit.

We have done a total of 292 breast reconstructions using a free flap over a period of 10 years (1994-2003). During the last five years the number of deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps has increased. However, to secure an optimal blood supply we still use a muscle-sparing transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap sometimes. Our results with the two flaps were identical as far as operating time and length of hospital stay were concerned, but the DIEP flap has less donor site morbidity. Our results are influenced by our selection of patients and our technique but we think that muscle-sparing TRAM flaps may be used as an alternative to DIEP flaps.

Salvage of free flaps after venous thrombosis: case report.

Venous thrombosis of a free flap is a serious complication in microsurgery. Several agents with the ability to dissolve an occluding thrombus exist. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) seems the most effective. We present our experience with a procedure that was successful in elimination of the occluding thrombus in two patients.