Lipofilling Safe for Mastectomy Patients
September 8th, 2011
Women who have fat graft injections or lipofilling after mastectomies face no greater risk of disease recurrence than those who do not undergo lipofilling, according to a recent study by European plastic surgeons.
Following surgery, many cancer patients are left with severely damaged skin and tissue. Lipofilling is a specialized fat grafting surgical procedure in which aspirated (liposuction) fat tissue is first taken from a donor site. Typical donor sites are the abdomen or flanks. Then it is centrifuged, treated and injected into the breast. The fat grafts naturally contain a population of adipose cells and the regenerative properties of the cells are particularly beneficial in healing tissue damaged by radiation.
Fat grafting is a less invasive technique to fill the void of tissue loss in reconstruction of the breasts. Liopfilling offers women another choice and it is a technique that does not require immediate action following a mastectomy.
Silicone Breast Implants Ok’d Again
September 6th, 2011
Last month a federal advisory panel has recommended the creation of a nationwide database to follow women who have had silicone-gel breast implants for at least 10 years after they had the surgery. Currently the two companies that manufacture silicone implants in the US, Allergan and Mentor, are already required to follow women who’ve had their implants for FDA-mandated studies. While the FDA would like to track more outcomes in women who have received silicone breast implants, it doesn’t expect more extensive longer-term data to reveal that the devices are unsafe.
According to William Maisel, MD, chief scientist and deputy director for the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, “Based on the totality of information on silicone gel breast implants, the FDA continues to believe that the currently approved devices are safe and effective for their intended use.†Data from the FDA report that most of the millions of women worldwide who have breast implants are satisfied with them. I find that patients are generally pleased with breast implant surgery. I always give my patients a choice between saline and silicone gel filled implants.
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