BREAST RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY USING LATISSIMUS DORSI FLAP: DOES IT AFFECT THE SHOULDER FUNCTION?
SG Haidar*; CC Kat; F Fatah; and SC Deshmukh City Hospital, Birmingham, UK The purpose of this study was to assess shoulder function after breast reconstruction surgery using latissimus dorsi flap. Sixty-eight patients (72 breasts) had this operation. Average follow up was 38 months (range 24 to 54 months). DASH and Constant-Murley were used for clinical assessment. Twenty-nine shoulders found to have a normal function; whereas, 11 shoulders had mild disability, 10 shoulders had moderate disability and 8 shoulders had severe disability. However, only 6 patients reported being unsatisfied with their outcome. Furthermore, all these 6 patients were not satisfied with their breast reconstruction outcome. This study confirms that following breast reconstruction surgery using latissimus dorsi flap, there is a considerable deterioration of shoulder function of varying degrees. Nevertheless, shoulder function is not the main concern of this group of patients. Correspondence should be addressed
