Successive uneventful pregnancies immediately following bilateral TRAM flap harvest
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Abstract
We here report a 37-year-old woman who had two successful pregnancies following a bilateral harvest of transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap. The abdominal wall was firmly repaired by component separation as well as external oblique fascial patch grafts. Although she had a scar from a cesarean section and the recovery interval between the harvest and the first postreconstructive pregnancy was less than 2 months, each pregnancy and delivery was uneventful. With the popularization and improvement in TRAM breast reconstruction, there may be an increase in the number of pregnancies without physician’s approval. Our case revealed that a large bilateral anterior sheath defect can be firmly repaired to endure immediate pregnancy without using any synthetic material.
Level of Evidence: Level V, risk/prognostic study.
Keywords
Breast reconstruction Rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap Pregnancy Component separation procedureNotes
Conflict of interest
None
Ethical standards
Patient gave her informed consent prior to her inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose her identity were omitted.
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