A UK patient has undergone pioneering breast reconstruction surgery in which a blood vessel from her abdomen was removed and used, along with the surrounding tissue, to create a new breast.
The team wants to refine the process using a robotic surgical system before surgery. It is hailing it as a significant leap forward in minimally invasive microscopic breast reconstruction.
The operation was performed by teams of surgeons from Hillingdon Hospital in West London and the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) in Hampstead, London.
Typically, in this type of reconstruction – DIEP flap surgery – surgeons are required to make a 12 cm incision in a patient’s abdominal wall to harvest the blood vessels for a ‘flap’ of tissue, which is used to reconstruct the breast after a mastectomy.
In this case, the team used keyhole surgery, which required only a 2cm incision. The minimally invasive TEP DIEP surgery allows patients to return home within two to three days rather than needing up to five days for recovery.
This innovative approach originated from a collaboration between Dariush Nikkhah, a consultant plastic surgeon at RFH, and Alistair Slesser, a consultant colorectal surgeon at Hillingdon.
The Hillingdon surgeons separated the blood vessel from the tissue. The RFH team – Mr Nikkhah, Prof Afshin Mosahebi-Mohammadi, Stephen Hamilton, and Shadi Ghali – then utilised it to construct a breast with a healthy blood supply.
Patient Tanya Tanna, 56, from South Ruislip, had the operation in January. She had a mastectomy in 2020 following a breast cancer diagnosis, but the pandemic and the backlog of other patients meant she faced a long wait for reconstructive surgery.
Mr Slesser said: ‘I am proud to have performed this surgery with my team. This is a huge step for Hillingdon Hospital. I am immensely grateful to my colorectal colleagues at Hillingdon who have helped me develop the skills required for such a complex procedure over the years. This was about teamwork, and I am glad that, with the plastic surgeons, we will be able to continue to innovate and provide this type of surgery at Hillingdon in the future for our breast cancer patients.’
Mr Nikkhah said: ‘The Royal Free Hospital is now one of the few centres in the world which can offer this type of minimal access surgery, which could reduce problems such as hernias and bulges and shorten inpatient stays. It’s more difficult to perform, but it makes the recovery better for our patients. We will aim to progress in performing the operation robotically in the future.’
Tanya said she took part ‘for all the women
