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Episode 63: Sensation and Sensibility in Breast Reconstruction

DiepCJourney Podcast

Release Date: 08/14/2024

Episode 67: The Role of Social Media in the Breast Cancer Community show art Episode 67: The Role of Social Media in the Breast Cancer Community

DiepCJourney Podcast

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Episode 63: Sensation and Sensibility in Breast Reconstruction show art 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...

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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 DiepCJourney podcast.

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 nerve reconstruction at the time of my DIEP flap and now have sensate breasts, thankfully. I feel that my breasts are part of my body.

I feel so fortunate today to be speaking to a world leader in breast sensation/sensibility. You will learn so much from her in our discussion. I first met her at the London Breast Meeting in September of 2023. This is one of the leading breast meetings in the world. Her talk absolutely mesmerized me.

I saw her again in January of this year, 2024, at the microsurgery meeting and we said, this podcast needs to happen.

She is approachable, warm, and accessible.

Dr. Stefania Tuinder performs complex microsurgical breast reconstruction at the Maastricht hospital in the Netherlands.

Dr. Tuinder has published multiple papers on this topic.

I was inspired by a mutual friend, Mr. Vimal Gokani, who mentioned Dr. Tuinder and her work with sensibility and neurotized breasts on his podcast, PRS Global Open, DEEP cuts.

Sensation and sensibility are something women talk about and deal with after autologous breast reconstruction. I’m fascinated with neuroplasticity and how are brains can adjust to these new sensations.

Links to papers published by Dr. Tuinder:

What does a breast feel like? A qualitative study among healthy women

Sensory recovery and the role of innervated flaps in autologous breast reconstruction—a narrative review

Somatotopic mapping of the human breast using 7T functional MRI

Connect with Dr. Tuinder:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefania-tuinder-0440176b/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefania_tuinder/