New technique of dissection of internal mammary vessels for breast reconstruction.

[BACKGROUND] Although internal mammary vessels are considered the best recipients for free flap breast reconstruction, they present the notable drawback of limited accessibility. The aim of this study was to develop a minimally invasive surgical technique for the dissection of internal mammary vessels as recipients for breast reconstruction.

[METHODS] From 2008 to 2018, we performed 32 unilateral microsurgical breast reconstructions (mean patient age: 40.1±8.7 years; range, 23-58 years). As internal mammary vessels were exclusively used as recipients, they were dissected using a technique of minimally invasive video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) developed in our hospital.

[RESULTS] The mean surgery time was 5.4±0.55 hours (range, 4.5-6.5 hours), and the mean duration of VATS dissection of internal mammary vessels was 20.6±2.9 minutes (range, 16-27 minutes). Of the specific complications associated with VATS, we only observed reductions in forced expiratory volume in the first second of >15% in 3 patients (9.4%), 10-15% in 8 patients (25%), and <10% in 21 patients (65.63%). We did not have any cases of significant bleeding or postoperative infection in this series of patients. With regard to aesthetic complications, we observed 1 and 2 cases of total necrosis and partial necrosis of the deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap, respectively and 2 cases of partial necrosis of supercharged transverse rectus abdominis muscle flap.

[CONCLUSIONS] Endoscopic dissection of internal mammary vessels is a simple and feasible technique. When performed by experienced surgeons, it is a fast procedure that is associated with low rate of complications.