Nipple-Areola Complex Reconstruction Using a Skin Graft and Nipple Sharing after Wise-pattern Central Lumpectomy

Abstract

Patients with central breast cancers historically underwent mastectomy, as the aesthetic implications of removing the nipple-areola complex and central breast tissue left disfiguring defects after breast conservation. The introduction of oncoplastic techniques allowed for central lumpectomies in ptotic patients, as the excess skin and gland could be mobilized centrally to fill the defect and even immediately reconstruct a nipple and areola. These reconstructions used excess skin on the Wise pattern vertical limbs to create a nipple, or on a "neopedicle" where both the areola and nipple were reconstructed and then mobilized superiorly into position as would be performed for a conventional mastopexy or reduction. These techniques importantly allowed for the immediate reconstruction of a nipple and areola in patients who often imminently required radiotherapy and where subsequent surgery would be challenging. Here we describe another option for immediate nipple and areola reconstruction in these patients - nipple sharing and a skin graft - a well-established approach in post-mastectomy patients but never previously described for patients undergoing breast conservation.