Building Complex Autologous Breast Reconstruction Program: A Preliminary Experience.

Autologous breast reconstruction is an increasingly popular method of reconstruction for breast cancer survivors. While deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps are the gold standard, not all patients are ideal candidates for DIEP flaps due to low BMI, body habitus, or previous abdominal surgery. In these patients, complex autologous breast reconstruction can be performed, but there is a limited number of programs around the world due to high technical demand.

Collagen fibrils from both positional and energy-storing tendons exhibit increased amounts of denatured collagen when stretched beyond the yield point.

Collagen molecules are the base structural unit of tendons, which become denatured during mechanical overload. We recently demonstrated that during tendon stretch, collagen denaturation occurs at the yield point of the stress-strain curve in both positional and energy-storing tendons. We were interested in investigating how this load is transferred throughout the collagen hierarchy, and sought to determine the onset of collagen denaturation when collagen fibrils are stretched.