Tag: history

History of DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction

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  The history of DIEP flap breast reconstruction, as with most medicine and surgery, has certainly evolved over the years. Patient recovery and healing, post operative outcomes and efficacy of the surgery has likely played a significant part in that evolution. The first attempts at flap reconstruction date back as far the 1800s. The advantage of using the deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP) as a means of breast reconstruction was primarily promoted by two surgeons in the mid 1990’s. Dr. Phillip Blondeel of Belgium and Dr. Robert Allen of the U.S. were the two surgeons who convinced their fellow plastic surgeons of the advantages of DIEP flap over TRAM flap as it did not use the rectus abdominis muscles thereby giving patients a more desirable outcome by not sacrificing their “sit-up” muscle. Many Must Travel to Find a Qualified Micro-Surgeon DIEP flap surgery is complex and involved.  It takes specialized Continue Reading →

“The Emperor of All Maladies” documentary

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Tonight is the beginning of the three-part documentary, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer”. The movie is based on the book by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. It will air on PBS as a three-night, six hour documentary.  I was fortunate to attend a pre-screening of this important documentary last week. Hope and Inspiration ~ The documentary, “Winning by Living” was made about a local woman, Michelle Kirlew, in conjunction with our local PBS affiliate’s screening of the Ken Burns documentary. Michelle has pancreatic cancer. She is a wife and mother and at a very young age found out about her diagnosis. She is aware that death is likely very soon for her and is dealing not only with her illness and the side effects but all the emotional responsibilities that come with facing death. She had the courage to contribute to science by participating in a clinical trial Continue Reading →