Breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst women in terms of frequency, with more than 50 000 newly diagnosed cases per year in France. The average 5-year survival rate for women with breast cancer is around 85%. Surgical treatment by total mastectomy concerns around 30% of cases. For patients who have been treated for breast cancer by total mastectomy, secondary breast reconstructions are often carried out via excess abdominal fat flaps of DIEP type. Postoperative partial fat necrosis is a common complication of breast reconstruction. This necrosis is qualified as pathological when it is palpable or when there are symptoms leading to pain, deformation, or leakage. Necrosis occurs in the first 6 months after surgery. Diagnosis is carried out by the detection of a nodule of fat necrosis measuring at least 5 mm on the ultrasound. Partial flat necrosis results from ischemia reperfusion (IR) to the fat tissues during reconstruction. IR leads to inflammatory lesions, edema, capillary occlusion that can lead to tissue necrosis. The deleterious impact of IR has been shown on the organs (liver, kidney) on muscular, cutaneous and adipose tissues in humans and animals. Ischaemic preconditioning is a procedure used in organ transplant surgery, allowing a better tolerance of the graft for ischemia reperfusion, without further complications. It is used in usual practice for kidney or liver transplants; short cycles of ischemia reperfusion are carried out on the organ pedicle before harvesting using cold ischemia (out of the donor's body) pre-transplant. Ischaemic preconditioning before reconstruction has been studied in animal models but not in human reconstruction surgery, although it seems to be beneficial. For patients undergoing total mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, we hypothesize that ischaemic preconditioning, usually used for organ transplants, could decrease adipose tissue lesions caused by ischemia reperfusion after breast reconstruction with DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flaps.
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Number of successes of the technique defined by the absence of pathological postoperative fat necrosis
Timeframe: 6 months post operation