Women who undergo both mastectomy and radiation treatments often find their options for reconstruction limited. A new choice for these women is under study in Italy, with a Roman doctor researching a new two-stage procedure for use in these cases.
So far, the technique is proving successful. Dr. Salgarello Marzja of University Hospital in Rome says his team has found that using liposuction to remove fat from other areas of a woman's body (usually the belly or hips, then re-injected it into the breasts as a new "bed" for an implant gets around the problem of tissue loss from radiation therapies.
"Fat grafting seems to reduce the radiation-induced complications in implants," Dr. Marzja explained.
Results of a preliminary three year study were good. The trick, says Marzja, is to stage the procedures rather than do them all at once. Women usually are required to wait 3 to 6 months after radiation is complete in order to ensure toxicity was gone so the new injections would remain viable.
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