BreastRecon · A patient specific approach to tissue expansion in breast reconstruction

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer globally, affecting 13% of women in their lifetime. For those women who undergo a mastectomy, breast reconstruction has become an integral part of their treatment. While two stage implant-based reconstructions are by far the most common procedure, they are sub-optimal: They suffer from high complication rates and low patient satisfaction. The first stage of implant based reconstructions involves the insertion of a tissue expander, silicone implants gradually inflated below the skin over several weeks to induce new skin growth. Improving patient outcomes and patient satisfaction requires a deep understanding of the biomechanical mechanisms associated with growing new tissue and the challenges associated with predicting its future behaviour. However, the lack of adequate in vivo techniques to evaluate and predict the amount of tissue growth is an obstacle to effective surgical planning.BreastRecon aims to address these challenges by developing a novel acoustoelastic method which can non-invasively determine key biomechanical parameters. Specific objectives of BreastRecon include (i) the development of a wearable surface wave device for clinical in vivo measurements (ii) the quantification of in vivo tension using the device (iii) the non-invasive determination of tissue growth and (iv) the development of a real-time optimisation procedure for the design of tissue expansion protocols. To achieve these ambitious goals, BreastRecon employs a distinctive combination of acoustoelastic tissue measurements, physics-based machine learning techniques and novel device development.BreastRecon will initially provide a tool to monitor tissue growth in vivo, offering valuable fundamental insights into growth and remodelling processes. Ultimately, it will advance patient-specific tissue expansions by designing optimum protocols based on individual biomechanical measurements, offering a disruptive breakthrough in reconstructive surgeries.