Many With Breast Cancer Will Never Be Without A Breast Again

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery
Article Date: 10 Oct 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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On average, every hour of every day, another woman in the U.S. is told she has breast cancer.* For some that will mean losing one or both breasts - dramatically altering her body until reconstructive surgery can be done. Now, a remarkable new approach may change that. While cancer might claim a woman's breast, that doesn't mean she has to live a single day without one.

Nancy Begue has always seen her outward appearance as a reflection of her inward confidence - confidence that was shaken when cancer took her right breast.

"I guess initially I felt like not normal, less of a woman," says Begue. Nancy eventually had plastic surgery to replace her breast, but went four months without one. Something doctors now say many women never have to do again.

"They can go right from having a mastectomy to waking up with a breast," says Michael Miller, MD, a renowned plastic surgeon at Ohio State University Medical Center. He often stands side-by-side in the same operating room as cancer surgeons. As soon as they remove a cancerous breast, Miller immediately steps in to replace it. He says although there are many ways to replace the breast, he prefers using fatty tissue from a woman's stomach area - which not only reduces the size of her abdomen, it also gives him the best chance to create a successful breast replacement.

"The tissue borrowed from there is easiest to work with, it's got the most reliable blood supply, the resulting scar from taking the tissue from there is more easily concealed," says Miller.

Miller can also use tissue from a woman's thighs or back, and in some cases, he can use implants. All of which are safe options that he insists will not interfere with cancer treatment.

It's a decision that Nancy is glad she made. She says it was the cancer doctors who saved her life, and her plastic surgeon who helped restore her quality of life.

"It makes a lot of difference. I feel that I'm a woman again," says Begue.

While not every woman who has a breast removed is a candidate for same-day breast reconstruction surgery, Miller says the vast majority of women don't even realize it's an option. He says any time a woman is facing surgery for breast cancer, she should include a plastic surgeon as part of the treatment team, in case there is a chance for reconstruction.

*American Cancer Society, Surveillance Research, 2007, http://www.cancer.org

Ohio State University

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