[Immediate breast reconstruction with tissue expander].

The technique of immediate breast reconstruction, using the tissue expander and replacing it with a permanent silicone prosthesis, has been applied with increasing frequency during the past several years. We chose this technique for immediate breast reconstruction because of its simplicity, rapidity when combined with mastectomy, and good esthetic results. We have performed 29 immediate breast reconstructions in the past 1.5 years in patients ranging from 22 to 72 years (mean 47). The insertion of the tissue expander added only 20-30 minutes of operating time for the mastectomy, and did not prolong hospitalization. Before we began to replace the expander with a permanent silicone prosthesis there were complications in 4 patients (14%). These included development of a seroma in 3, 1 of which became infected 40 days after insertion of the tissue expander, and capsular contraction in a patient who had previously had radiotherapy to her breast. The case with the infection was the only failure and the expander had to be removed. Immediate reconstruction of the breast is easily performed and can be of tremendous psychological benefit to mastectomy patients. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy are not contraindications to this type of reconstruction.