Breast Reconstruction Surgery

Biocompatible surgical operation for a more natural and female look

The Clinica San Francesco represents a medical centre of excellence also in breast surgery area. The breast reconstruction is carried out through the surgical procedure of adipose tissue autotransplantation, an internationally stabilized and effective procedure in clinic activity.

The graft of an autologous adipose tissue consists in sampling and immediate fat reimplantation from one anatomical site to other one of same patient, in order to redefine the morphological profile of specific areas.

In the mastoplasty ambit, the operation has 3 indications:

• Reconstruct the breast after tumorectomy, both in case of quadrantectomy (removal of mammary gland) and total mastectomy.
• Increase the volume in a normal breast
• Remodel breast to fix congenital or acquired deformities

For optimizing the outcome of operation and avoiding the transplanted tissue necrosis, the essential thing is that the fat positioned in new site is adequately exposed to blood circulation. In this respect the adipose tissue injections have to be in small quantities and diluted with time.

In additive mastoplasty, in a normal breast, one session can be enough, whereas in postmastectomy reconstruction more sessions are needed, depending on breast volume to reconstruct. The ones needed after a radiotherapy damage can be even many more.

The breast operations are always carried out in local anesthesia and sedation with postoperative course for few days.

Benefits of adipose tissue autotransplant

While breast prostheses remain an extraneous and rigid body and have to be substituted after some years, the transplanted fat is absolutely biocompatible, gives the reconstructed breast a more natural look, preserves its sensitivity and after reconstructive procedure the result is stable for the rest of life and follows the weight variations.

The previous techniques of autologous transplantation, using skin and fat stripes taken from abdomen, left big scars in donor zone. The sampling and reimplant of fat occur through thin cannulas that permit to overtake this inconvenience.

An Italian success

The breast reconstruction procedure through adipose tissue autotransplantation was introduced and perfected by Dr Gino Rigotti, and examined and validated for the first time in Italy by Centro Nazionale Trapianti (Italian National Transplant Center).

The procedure has been object of several publications in international scientific journals and respresents a cause for plastic surgeons’ request of detailed studying and teaching. In this respect the Italian Academy of Lipotech was created.

Thanks to the “Rigottomia”, finalized by Dr Rigotti, the adipose tissue breast transplant has been further perfected: in host site are carried out some microincisions originating a kind of three-dimensional tangle, in which the fat is grafted more efficiently and more vascularized.