Deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flaps can be very helpful for unilateral breast reconstruction following mastectomy for breast cancer. Autologous breast reconstruction is a type of breast reconstruction where the patients own body tissue is used to reconstruct the breast. This is a different type of reconstruction from an implant based breast reconstruction.
When a patient undergoes a unilateral mastectomy, it can be challenging to match a mammary prosthesis to the other non-operated breast. In addition, if skin is to be removed in proximity of the tumor or if the nipple-areola complex needs to be removed, that skin can be replaced with skin from the abdomen. The overall shape of the fat that is disconnected from the abdomen and transferred to the chest can be useful for matching the contralateral non-operated breast.
