Making recovery easier and quicker for patients is the goal of a new procedure the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Cancer Institute is offering women seeking breast reconstruction after a mastectomy.

“I wanted to eliminate as many steps as possible,” said Maria Ricketts of Madison, a breast cancer survivor who is among the first to use the new expanders.

Traditionally, doctors who work with breast cancer patients remove the malignant tissue and for those who want reconstruction, begin the process of stretching the skin to insert implants. They can insert a tissue expander at the time of the mastectomy, said Dr. Ben McIntyre, an associate professor of plastic surgery and member of the Cancer Institute’s Interdisciplinary Breast Cancer team.

“Once a week we’d access the expander, basically a water balloon, with a needle and add saline,” he said. Patients had to return to the doctor for each injection.

This new type of tissue expander uses air to help stretch the skin and the patient can operate it from home.

“It’s got a remote, and the patient can do it at home now,” McIntyre said. “I see patients who are 3 hours away. This is much better for them.”

The final step is to remove the expander and surgically insert more permanent saline or silicone implants. Air expanders lessen the time to that surgery.

“The air expander goes quickly,” McIntyre said. “Rather than several months with slow additions of saline once a week, they may be ready for their final surgery in 4 to 6 weeks.”

McIntyre said the air expanders have several advantages, including:

•Since there are no needle pricks, there’s less chance of infection.
•Patients can operate the expanders from home, sometimes up to three times a day.
•Patients have fewer clinic visits.

Ricketts, who now looks forward to returning to work, said, “I think it’s cool that I got to experience something new. It’s a bit painful because you are doing something to your body that nature doesn’t do, but it’s good because it’s simple.”