L-Positioned Perforator Propeller Flap For Partial Breast Reconstruction With Axillary Dead Space

Partial breast reconstruction using perforator flaps harvested from the lateral chest wall has become a well-established surgical technique recently. In the case of a partial mastectomy with an axillary lymph node dissection, there are 2 main defects; one is a partial breast defect and the other is an axillary dead space. To reconstruct the 2 separate defects with local flaps, basically 2 different flaps are needed, and usually, it is rather difficult to harvest 2 different local flaps in the adjacent area. To resolve this problem, we introduce the L-positioned perforator propeller flap (PPF). We used an L-positioned PPF on 2 female patients, aged 46 and 47 years old, who were suffering from breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant. The concept of this flap design is as follows: the partial breast defect is reconstructed with the longer lobe of the L-positioned PPF and the axillary defect is filled with the smaller lobe of the L-positioned PPF at the same time. The reconstruction time was 2 hours and 0 minutes and 1 hour and 46 minutes in each case. The patients were successfully provided with aesthetically acceptable breast reconstruction without postoperative complications. Moreover, both patients had consecutive postoperative radiotherapy on the reconstructed area without complications. With this flap design, it is possible for patients to have safe and aesthetic reconstruction with only 1 local flap and fewer invasive procedures.