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Unexpected outcome (positive or negative) including adverse drug reactions
CASE REPORT
Super obesity is not necessarily a contraindication to deep inferior epigastric perforator flap breast reconstruction
  1. Marios Papadakis,
  2. Frauke Schuster,
  3. Gabriel Djedovic,
  4. Afshin Rahmanian-Schwarz
  1. Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, HELIOS Universitätsklinikum Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Dr Marios Papadakis, marios_papadakis{at}yahoo.gr

Summary

The deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap is widely recognised as a safe and reliable flap for use as a first-choice option in autologous tissue breast reconstruction. Patients with obesity represent a challenging group for autologous breast reconstruction, as they are at increased risk of developing major and minor complications in comparison with patients with normal weight. We report a 59-year-old woman with super obesity, who presented to our department with right breast skin necrosis after implant reconstruction following mastectomy for right breast cancer. After implant removal and local treatment with both surgical debridement and negative pressure wound therapy, the patient successfully underwent a DIEP flap breast reconstruction. We conclude that super obesity should not be a contraindication to DIEP flap breast reconstruction.

  • plastic and reconstructive surgery
  • breast surgery

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-223065

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MP: conception of the work, case data collection, literature research and writing. FS, GD and AR-S: case data collection and literature search. All authors: revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.