Kl. Cheung et al., OMENTAL TRANSPOSITION FLAP FOR GROSS LOCALLY RECURRENT BREAST-CANCER, Australian and New Zealand journal of surgery, 67(4), 1997, pp. 185-186
Background: The omentum has been employed to cover the defect produced
after resection of gross breast cancer recurrence for nearly three de
cades. Methods: A series of 11 patients undergoing omental transpositi
on flap for very wide resection of gross local recurrence (LR) of brea
st cancer is reported. The median age was 39 years, with a short inter
val (median = 21 months) from the treatment of the primary tumour to L
R. Local recurrence was gross and predominantly inflammatory. Results:
All except one patient had lymphovascular invasion in the recurrent t
umour. The omental graft was 100% viable but one patient required re-a
pplication of further split-thickness skin graft. The mean hospital st
ay was 16 days. Two cases of seroma formation were encountered. New re
currence developed around the periphery of the flap in eight patients
after a median duration of local control of only 2.5 months. Eight pat
ients died with metastatic disease after a median period of 6 months,
six patients with uncontrolled local disease. Five patients were free
from LR in over half of their remaining period of life. Conclusion: Om
entoplasty is a safe and reliable procedure but the length of palliati
on achieved is often far from satisfactory.