Cancer Reconstruction

We are proud to say that we are among the very few hospitals in the world who do not charge the patient before taking the patient for emergency surgery. Many such initiatives by us have helped us gain the confidence of many patients over the years and we have become one of the busiest plastic surgery units in the world. We are proud to say that we not only get many patients, we also get a lot of doctors who come to observe and learn from us. We are proud to say that the Department of Plastic Surgery has trained more than 1600 doctors from 64 countries. No mean feat by any department throughout the world and very difficult to replicate!!!

With this background and with our constant thirst to serve the people with the latest advancements, we are now venturing into Oncoplastic Breast Surgery. Treatment of breast cancer has changed over the years. Breast Cancer responds to many modalities of treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy. These advances have improved the treatment of breast cancer and the average 10 year survival of breast cancer has increased to 83 % which is quite high for cancer. As a part of the treatment, breasts are removed and some women have their breasts disfigured due to radiotherapy after partial removal of the breast (Breast Conservative Therapy). With many people beating the disease, women want to move on. However they are constantly reminded of the disease whenever they see themselves in the mirror. Realising this, many advanced units throughout the world talk about removal of the tumour as well as reconstruction of breasts at the same surgical sitting and this has become the norm. Certain developed countries like UK and USA have even laws that mandate doctors offering breast reconstruction at the same time as removal of the tumour. So Breast Oncology surgery has now become Oncoplastic Breast Surgery as we now realise that reconstructing breasts are as important as removing them for cancer

When patients plan for breast reconstruction, it is important that they get the best method of breast reconstruction done. Poor means of reconstruction are as bad as no breast reconstruction. There are many ways to reconstruct the breast. With most patients in India needing radiotherapy, the best means of breast reconstruction is using the patients own tissues by microsurgery. It is now widely accepted throughout the world that the gold standard method of breast reconstruction is called “DIEP Flap”. Here the extra protuberant skin and fat in the lower abdomen which every women don’t like is removed along with the blood vessel supplying it and attached to the blood vessels in the chest and shaped into a new breast. This needs extensive experience in microsurgery as we need to chose the right blood vessel which supplies the skin and fat in the lower abdomen. We are proud to say that we are among the very few handful of institution who can offer this.

Having said that we are among the best in reconstruction we do realise and accept that treatment of breast cancer is more important and we offer the full gamut of breast oncology surgery such as Breast Conservative Therapy, Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy, Skin sparing mastectomy and Therapeutic Mammaplasty.

Breast and Ovarian Cancers can run in families and we now have some genetic tests which find out whether a person is susceptible to breast cancer. Women who have the defective gene run a very high chance of developing breast cancer and many women such as the popular actress Angelina Jolie opt to get their breasts removed before they get breast cancer. This is called Prophylactic Mastectomy. At the same surgery, women also get breasts reconstructed from their abdomen. Thus this surgery drastically reduces the chance of the women getting breast cancer and also makes the women look better !!!

Catching breast cancers early is also very important and we offer regular screening for breast cancer so that we catch breast cancer early.

Keeping with our practice of being abreast with the latest advancements, we are proud to introduce the full gamut of oncoplastic breast surgery to Coimbatore. With every step we take, we always remind ourselves on the reason why we are what we are. This can be summarised in a single word called “Trust”. We just strive to maintain this trust by our patients and among those who work with us.