ASO Author Reflections: Improving Patient Access to Autologous Breast Reconstruction

The desire for autologous breast reconstruction can contribute to prolonged time to therapeutic breast surgery for breast cancer due to difficulties in surgery scheduling. As such, improved access to autologous breast reconstruction is important to optimize delivery of breast cancer care. The deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap is the gold standard choice for autologous breast reconstruction and results in good postoperative quality of life.¹ However, because DIEP flap reconstruction involves specialized microsurgical expertise and use of limited hospital resources, patient access to autologous breast reconstruction is an ongoing challenge. This problem is compounded by the recent recommendation by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer stating that first therapeutic breast surgery in non-neoadjuvant scenarios should be performed within 60 days of diagnosis for stages I to III breast cancer.² Therefore, the emphasis on improving patient access to autologous breast reconstruction currently is even greater. …