Breast Building

Mastectomy with a bonus tuck

Each year, 110,000 women in the U.S. learn that they have breast cancer.

For many of them, treatment is almost as dread as the disease: a mastectomy, which can be both physically and psychologically mutilating. But in recent years, plastic surgeons have devised a number of techniques for reconstructing breasts that reduce the aesthetic and emotional toll.

Now a new surgical procedure offers a double benefit to mastectomy patients. Using a section of fat and muscle from the abdomen, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon Dr. Carl Hartrampf replaces missing breasts and gives women a bonus "tummy tuck" in the process. A section of the rectus abdominis, one of the two large muscles that run vertically from the ribs to the pelvis, is removed, along with a surrounding island of skin and fat. The large artery supplying blood to the region is left intact. The skin of the chest is sliced free of its underlying tissue, and the entire mass is moved into the cavity left when the breast was removed. Then the new breast is shaped and sutured into place. Finally the abdominal skin is stretched and tightened in the same procedure that is commonly used in cosmetic operations. Since the new breast has an adequate blood supply and no foreign material, it runs no risk of rejection; all 15 operations performed by Dr. Hartrampf have been successful. -

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