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Recommendations for the Best Reconstructive Surgeons Who Do DIEP

asked 1 year ago by fjr in Agoura Hills CA
Latest answer by Charles K. Lee, MD
Question viewed 475 times
Tags: DIEP, doctor referral

Also Is it true that doctors do not know in advance if they can do a DIEP reconstruction until they get inside?

7 answers to Recommendations for the Best Reconstructive Surgeons Who Do DIEP

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Choosing a surgeon for DIEP flap surgery

Most plastic surgeons do not perform DIEP flaps (or other methods of perforator flap breast reconstruction) because of the complexity of these surgeries. In fact, most plastic surgeons do not routinely perform these or other types of perforator flap breast reconstruction even if they perform microsurgery. The best success rates and the highest degree of efficiency are achieved when these reconstructive procedures performed by a team of experienced microsurgeons.  If... more
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Find a plastic surgeon who has done a fellowship in microsurgery.

You can usually find a small number of plastic surgeons in a major city, often times at an academic medical center, who perform the DIEP operation on a regular basis.   Having a microsurgery fellowship means that the plastic surgeon spent an additional year performing high volume, complex microsurgical cases.  Very often, these reconstructive microsurgeons are members of the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (ASRM) in addition to ASPS. It is... more
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DIEP flap

IF the plan is to perform a DIEP flap in the majority of cases it is performed. If the anatomy is not conducive to it, some may take a small portion of the muscle to be safer.
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DIEP Flap Recommendations

There are several important criteria to consider in choosing a breast reconstruction surgeon to perform your DIEP flap surgery.   In addition to general plastic surgery training, your surgeon needs extensive experience in microvascular surgery.    It is important that your surgeon be experienced in these techniques and perform them with minimal rates of complication or flap failure. Most major medical centers have breast cancer centers and support groups.  ... more
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DIEP Flap Recommendations

Regarding: " Recommendations for the best reconstructive surgeons who do DIEP   Also Is it true that doctors do not know in advance if they can do a DIEP reconstruction until they get inside?" The DIEP flap is the latest in microsurgical reconstruction flaps used mostly for the breast. Surgeons DO and plan in advance on how to do it, allocating team members to do certain parts of the surgery simultaneously and getting the equipment needed to visualize where the... more
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Selecting a DIEP Flap surgeon

I recommend you meet with a ASPS member surgeon who regularly performs this procedure on a weekly basis.  As with anything in medicine/surgery, experience matters.  A DIEP free flap is a muscle sparing tissue-only reconstructive modality.  It is essentially a tissue transplantation procedure.  In every major city, there is usually at least one or two groups who perform DIEP flap procedures on a weekly basis.  The good news is that the DIEP free flap should be... more
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DIEP Flaps Need Experienced Surgeon

If you are looking for a DIEP flap reconstruction, then you really want to go to a surgeon who does alot of them.  This is a surgery that any plastic surgeon should be able to do, but only a small number of us do routinely.   It can be acomplicated surgery, and there are some variables to it, but for the most part, you usually know whether it can be done before hand or not.  This is because there are some great imaging tools, like CT angiogram, that can really show... more

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