“I feel so lucky I didn’t have to lose my breast”
(Photo above: Tara and her family)
First Whipps Cross patient to have a perforator flap performed following breast cancer diagnosis shares her experience and how this procedure changed her life.
A new procedure, introduced earlier this year, offers a less invasive breast reconstruction following breast cancer surgery.
The procedure known as perforator flap for breast cancer is a technique where skin and fat are removed from under or from the side of the patient’s breast to fill in the cavity left after having a tumour excision for breast cancer.
The surgery allows the patient to preserve the same size and shape of the breast; for some patients it may even alleviate the need of a mastectomy.
“After the tumour excision, the cavity left in the breast fills with fluid. This fluid finally reabsorbs and scarring ensues. If the cavity is large, this process can displace the nipple and significantly distort the shape of breast. Hence, for larger tumours we sometimes recommend a mastectomy with reconstruction,” says consultant breast and plastic surgeon Shweta Aggarwal, who performed the first procedure in February this year.
She adds: “There are two main reasons why we introduced this procedure, firstly to prevent deformity after cancer excision and secondly to reduce the mastectomy rate, both of which contribute to the social and psychological wellbeing of patients with breast cancer”.
Tara, a local resident from Walthamstow, was the first patient to have this procedure at Whipps Cross.
“I found a lump in my breast in June 2021 and my first thought was that it was cancer, so I contacted my local GP and they referred me to Whipps Cross.
You just think oh it’s a lump and it’s in my breast, so you put two and two together and that’s it, and I was right.”
Having the option to keep her breast thanks to the perforator flap was a life changing for Tara.
“The operation worked wonders for me, it was a bit painful, but I was happy to have this option and I didn’t have to lose my breast over it.
“I feel so lucky because I didn’t have to lose my breast. You can’t really see the scar that was left after the procedure either."
The procedure, which is relatively new in the plastic surgery field, was only introduced earlier this year at Barts Health and according to Shweta we are one of the first ones in east London to offer this procedure to patients.
“A big advantage is that when we perform this procedure, for the right patient, you can’t make out the difference in the patient’s breast pre and post-surgery.
“At the end of the surgery, the patient would still have a scar, but they have exactly the same shape of the breast as they had before and the scar can be hidden under the breast for some procedures.”
Shweta adds that this procedure can also help reducing post cancer surgery complications like seroma which is a build-up of clear fluid inside the body.
“Not all patients who have had breast cancer surgery are suitable for this procedure,” clarifies the consultant.
“The main criteria is to compare the size of the tumour with the size of the breast and if the tumour is big compared to breast you can’t just take the tumour out so you have to use alternative procedures.”
So far, six patients from Whipps Cross have had this procedure, but the hope is to increase the number of patients that can benefit from it.
Breast cancer surgery has come a long way, reducing deformity following surgery and looking after our patient’s social and psychological wellbeing is an integral part of the treatment.
(Photo: Whipps Cross consultant Shweta Aggarwal)