Episode 25: Flap Monitoring in Breast Reconstruction and the History of the Guinea Pig Club in Plastic Surgery
Release Date: 01/11/2023
Episode 68: Pathways to Care Due to Secondary Issues from Breast Cancer Treatment
DiepCJourney Podcast
Solutions often begin with a conversation. When faced with the task of planning your surgery, it is the goal of the to provide for those affected by breast cancer. My guest is , an international expert in advanced reconstruction and a highly skilled microsurgeon. Dr. Elkwood is the founder of The Plastic Surgery Center and in New Jersey. You can also visit or call 954-218-5137 to schedule a consultation with a surgeon on these advanced and specialty conditions. The surgeons in the IFAR network perform breast reconstruction surgery due to loss of breast after mastectomy from breast...
info_outline
Episode 67: The Role of Social Media in the Breast Cancer Community
DiepCJourney Podcast
What is it about social media that draws the breast cancer community together? We are going to explore this question with my guest, , consultant breast cancer surgeon and medical educator on social media under the name, @DrTashaG. We will look at the benefits, downfalls, information, and disinformation provided by various social media platforms on this episode of the . How can you find the right community that supports both your emotional and educational needs when each person is unique and there are distinct types of breast cancer? Why is it important for physicians to interact and be active...
info_outline
Episode 66: Wildfire Community: The Power of Story Telling in Breast Cancer
DiepCJourney Podcast
In this episode of the I interview . She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of . April has an extensive background in writing and landed her first memoir-based magazine cover story at 16. She worked for her college newspaper and then the local newspaper in Santa Cruz, The Sentinel, following graduation. During the tech boom of the early 2000s April worked “over the hill” from Santa Cruz in Silicon Valley. However, in 2012, in the midst of this career, April was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 35. Four years later, while struggling to “go back to normal” and find others in...
info_outline
Episode 65: Breast Reconstruction at Tucson Plastic Surgery
DiepCJourney Podcast
Are you aware of the value of the two-surgeon model in reconstructive microsurgery? Have you heard about the benefits to patients of ERAS (Enhanced Recovery after Surgery) protocol? I spoke with two board-certified plastic reconstructive surgeons who practice at to answer these questions and others on this episode of the . My guests are and . They met at the , a well-known yearly gathering of microsurgical specialists from around the world who present the latest techniques in flap surgeries. Their combined training in breast reconstruction microsurgery and aesthetic plastic surgery offers...
info_outline
Episode 64: Microsurgery and Fat Grafting in Breast Reconstruction
DiepCJourney Podcast
When you think about breast reconstruction do you only think about breast implants? If so, it is because many people are still choosing this option for reconstructing their breast after mastectomy. However, there are options. Using your own tissue is an option and the tissue, along with a blood source, can come from various parts of the body. Fat grafting to shape and form the breast is also an option many ask about but not all know about. This is our topic on this episode of the . My guest, , is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon practicing in Hopewell, New Jersey at the ....
info_outline
Episode 63: Sensation and Sensibility in Breast Reconstruction
DiepCJourney Podcast
Breast sensation, “sensibility,” is a topic I personally cannot talk enough about. Breast cancer patients want to be protected from burns. They want to feel the hugs from their children, grandchildren, partners, friends, and family. Sensibility refers to awareness, emotional response, and feeling so it makes perfect sense to use this word in our conversation on this episode of the . To be honest, the feeling of numbness that many feel after a mastectomy just feels odd. I speak from experience, and I listen to other survivors who tell me this. It felt odd for me, but I was fortunate to have...
info_outline
Episode 62: Flap Neurotization in Autologous Breast Reconstruction - A Systematic Review
DiepCJourney Podcast
This edition of the highlights a recently published paper in , an International Journal of Surgical Reconstruction. The title of the paper is: To our listeners, who may be patients, surgeons, or medical professionals we are going to explore the elements and details of this research paper and how it can be of benefit to you. I am pleased to have two returning guests who have collaborated across continents from Australia to the U.S. sharing their combined microsurgical skills to improve patient outcomes in sensate breasts. is an author of the paper and an internationally trained microsurgeon...
info_outline
Episode 61: Microsurgery, Lymphedema, Neurotized Breasts, and Robotics
DiepCJourney Podcast
In this episode of the I am joined by another podcaster. What I am most excited about is that he is one of our international guests this year. We have known each other for some time. Not trying to age either one of us but I have enjoyed knowing him, having robust conversations, and learning so much about the world of plastic surgery and microsurgery from him. We will talk about these topics in the podcast in a cross-continental discussion with my guest . Notice I said, “Mister.” That is because he is a well-respected microsurgeon in the UK and rather than Dr. as we refer to physicians in...
info_outline
Episode 60: Credibility in the Noise - Social Media, Breast Reconstruction, and Your Experience
DiepCJourney Podcast
Consider a young person who has been newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Add to the mix they are facing a mastectomy and exploring options for breast reconstruction. Let’s say they are someone who has grown up in the world of social media. The question arises, where do they connect and get their credible information? Breast reconstruction is a complex decisional process. Do they use a platform like TikTok based in thirty second increments or a more community-based platform like Meta/Facebook where patients can engage in more of a discussion about what they are facing after a horrible...
info_outline
Episode 59: A Breast Cancer Patient Intent on Finding Access to a DIEP Flap Surgeon
DiepCJourney Podcast
Access to medical care for those affected by breast cancer is crucial, and often life transformative. This personal story will give emphasis to the voice of an advocate, a woman of strength, and determined to find the best care available for her during her personal journey from diagnosis to recovery from reconstructive surgery. My guest on this episode of the is Dana Brown, a 54-year-old wife, mother, and educator. She has been married to her best friend and soulmate for 35 years. She was intent on finding a well-qualified microsurgeon to perform her DIEP flap breast reconstruction after...
info_outlineSince having DIEP flap, a plastic reconstructive surgery technique performed to rebuild breasts after a mastectomy, I have been fascinated with the field of plastic surgery and topics related specifically to breast reconstruction.
I interview Rob Pupelis, CEO, of Spectros for the first episode of season three of the DiepCJourney podcast. Rob shares the story of his visit to the Queen Victory hospital (QVH) in England. He was able to visit Queen Victoria while attending the London Breast Meeting in late 2022. While at the conference, Rob demonstrated the T-Stat tissue oximetry system developed by Spectros. T-Stat is used to monitor flaps in breast reconstruction and in our conversation, we discuss the efficacy of the T-Stat system and why it improves the surgeon’s success rate of flap procedures like the DIEP flap.
We begin our conversation with the history of the Queen Victory Hospital treating burn victims during WWII. A surgeon from New Zealand, Archibald McIndoe, came to the Queen Victory hospital via a chance meeting with his cousin, Sir Harold Gillies, often considered the father of plastic surgery. Seeing the severe burn injuries sustained by pilots in WWII, McIndoe saw what his cousin, Sir Harold Gillies did using tube pedicles to rebuild the faces of WWI soldiers and expanded on this technique by treating the soldiers at Queen Victoria. He took healthy, unburnt tissue from other sites on the soldiers to reconstruct burnt tissue.
He nurtured this community, and these airmen were considered “guinea pigs” as part of his pioneering work in reconstructive burn surgery. These young airmen treated by Archibald McIndoe became known as the Guinea Pig club. He took them under his care not only during their physical healing but also treating the psychological impact of having disfigurement from these burns. There were over 600 of these airmen. Rob shared some of the photos hanging in the halls of QVH taken during his visit listing the members of The Guinea Pig Club, Archibald McIndoe, and the operating theater.
We go on to discuss modern day techniques used in microsurgery and how Rob became the CEO of Spectros. Flap monitoring is an important question many patients ask about. The T-Stat monitoring system is at the bedside of the patient after DIEP flap breast reconstruction to ensure that the blood flowing into the breast and out of the breast is monitored.
The physician performing the DIEP flap has 24-hour access to real time data provided by the monitoring system via a small sensor placed on the flap to monitor it while the patient is in hospital after surgery. We went on to discuss how T-Stat can be used regardless of the coloration of skin.
I hope this educational podcast discussion will encourage patients to ask about the type of tissue monitoring system their surgeon uses to monitor flaps during their initial consult for breast reconstruction. Many thanks to Rob for educating us about the benefits of the T-Stat system by Spectros.
