Inframammary fold approach in breast conserving surgery for cancer.

The onco-plastic surgery technique that we propose, exploiting an "extra-mammary" access, allows to make a breast-conserving surgery yet oncologically radical for early breast cancer, according to the conventional protocols of breast-conserving therapy (BCT), avoiding the excision of the skin, if not involved, overlying the lesion and the resulting scar on the breast. The incision is made immediately below the inframammary fold, thus the resulting surgical scar is hardly visible or often totally invisible on standing, because hidden from the natural breast ptosis. With this technique it is possible to significantly reduce the alteration of breast profile and body image as well as the effects on the fragile psychology of women who underwent breast cancer surgery. A related case with 36 months follow-up is described. Additional research needs to be conducted to evaluate long-term results and effectiveness of the proposed technique in relation to a large number of cases.