SENSORY RECOVERY FOLLOWING FREE TRAM FLAP BREAST RECONSTRUCTION

The free TRAM flap is now commonly used in breast reconstruction a aft er mastectomy. A number of our patients reported anecdotally return of some sensation in their reconstructed breasts, despite being told bef orehand that this was unlikely. Tills study measured return of sensati on in a series of 21 patients, by studying both patients' subjective r eporting of sensory return using a standardised questionnaire and obje ctive evaluation of sensation with standard clinical tests. These incl uded temperature and pain threshold and the use of the Semmes-Weinstei n method. The study demonstrates that measurable sensory recovery occu rred in 16 of our 21 patients (76%). 18 of tile 21 patients (86%) repo rted a subjective feeling of sensation in the reconstructed breast and 7 (33%) claimed it fell the same iis their normal contralateral breas t, Sensory recovery usually commences about 6 months postoperatively a nd progressively improves over time. These findings demonstrate that t he free tissue transfer method dots not necessarily lead to an insensa te reconstruction, as might be supposed.