Impact of mastectomy flap necrosis on prepectoral reconstructive outcomes

INTRODUCTION

As reconstructive surgeons have increasingly transitioned to the prepectoral plane for prosthetic breast reconstruction, the implications of mastectomy skin flap necrosis have become more concerning. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of skin flap necrosis on reconstructive outcomes in patients undergoing immediate prepectoral breast reconstruction.

METHODS

A retrospective review was conducted of patients undergoing immediate two-stage prepectoral reconstruction at a single center with at least 3 months follow-up. Postoperative complications, reconstructive outcome, and time to final implant were compared between patients with and without mastectomy skin necrosis.

RESULTS

A total of 301 patients underwent 509 prepectoral breast reconstructions. Forty-four patients (14.6%) experienced postoperative mastectomy skin flap necrosis. Demographic and reconstructive characteristics were similar between the necrosis and no necrosis cohorts. Patients with skin necrosis were more likely to undergo reoperation after tissue expander (64% vs 19%, p < 0.01) and undergo expander replacement (13.6% vs 3.5%, p = 0.02). However, rates of reconstructive failure (6.8% vs 6.2%), major infection (9.1% vs 9.0%), and minor infection (13.6% vs 17.5%) after expander placement were statistically similar. Patients with skin necrosis trended toward longer time before final implant placement, although the difference was not statistically significant (6.5 vs 5.0 months, p = 0.08). There was no difference in complication rates between the necrosis and no necrosis cohort after final implant placement. There was a higher rate of revision surgery after implant placement in the necrosis cohort (12.5% vs 4.1%, p = 0.047).

CONCLUSIONS

Mastectomy skin flap necrosis is a concerning postoperative event, particularly in patients with prepectoral prostheses. We observed that patients with skin necrosis experience higher reoperation rates in the expander period, yet have similar infection rates and achieve similar final reconstructive outcomes compared to patients without necrosis.

Abstract WP64: Perfusion Imaging Can Identify Basilar Occlusion Patients With a Favorable Response to Thrombectomy

Introduction: Perfusion imaging can identify patients who respond favorably to endovascular therapy (EVT) in the anterior circulation; no data are available for the posterior circulation. We evaluated perfusion patterns, assessed with RAPID software, in a consecutive cohort of patients with basilar artery occlusion treated with EVT and assessed the association between reperfusion and favorable clinical outcome based on the perfusion profile.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that patients with limited regions of severe hypoperfusion (Tmax > 10s) would have a favorable response (mRS 0-2) to reperfusion (mTICI 2b-3) while patients with multiple critical brain regions severely hypoperfused would have poor outcome (mRS 4-6) despite reperfusion.

Methods: From a multicenter cohort of perfusion imaging in posterior circulation stroke, we included patients with basilar artery occlusion and EVT. We pre-specified a Critical Area Perfusion Score (CAPS, 0 - 8 points) to identify severe hypoperfusion (Tmax >10s) in the following regions: inferior and/or superior cerebellar hemisphere (1-4 points), pons (2 points), midbrain/thalamus (2 points). We compared the outcome between reperfusers and non reperfusers based on the CAP score with univariate and multivariate analysis.

Results: 38 patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean age was 63±17, 34% female, NIHSS 17±11. In patients who reperfused (n=30, 79%) 63% had favorable outcome, while no patient without reperfusion survived, p=0.003 OR=29 (95%CI 1.5-547). Ninety percent (19/21) of reperfused patients with CAPS ≤2 had a favorable outcome, while none of the 9 with reperfusion and a score >2 survived, p<0.001, OR=148 (95%CI 6.5-3,333). In univariate analysis, favorable outcome was associated with NIHSS OR=0.87 (95% CI 0.80-0.96), p=0.003, and mismatch volume OR=0.98 (95% CI 0.97-0.997) p=0.013. In the multivariate analysis, only CAPS was an independent predictor of favorable outcome.

Conclusions: Patients with limited regions of severe hypoperfusion (Tmax > 10s) had a robust response to basilar artery EVT, however, all patients with multiple critical brain regions severely hypoperfused died despite successful reperfusion. Perfusion imaging profiles may help identify optimal patients for basilar EVT.

Abstract TP72: Localization of Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) Stroke in the Posterior Circulation Based on Perfusion Imaging

Introduction: The vascular territory of an occluded large intracranial vessel can be reliably identified by CT or MR perfusion imaging. Furthermore, prior studies have shown that perfusion imaging can reliably predict the specific vessel that is occluded in anterior circulation large vessel strokes. We evaluated whether perfusion imaging can predict the specific vessel occlusion (vertebral, basilar, or posterior cerebral) in posterior circulation strokes.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the occluded vessel could be inferred from the perfusion imaging results in >80% of patients with an acute stroke due to large vessel occlusion in the posterior circulation using the simultaneous CTA or MRA as the gold standard. Furthermore, the inter-rater agreement between a vascular neurologist and a neuroradiologist would be > 90%. Agreement Coefficients (AC1) were determined.

Methods: From a multicenter cohort of consecutive patients with posterior circulation stroke, we included patients with documented occlusion of the Basilar Artery (BA) posterior cerebral Artery (PCA) or vertebral artery (VA) who had perfusion imaging (MRI or CT) processed by RAPID software. Perfusion images were evaluated blinded to the angiography or any other brain imaging results. The primary outcome measure was agreement on LVO location based on the CTA/MRA results.

Results: 74 patients were eligible: age 63±2, female 32%, median NIHSS 15 (IQR 5-24). The distribution of large vessel occlusions on CTA/MRA was BA (74%), PCA (14%) and VA (12%). Perfusion imaging was able to correctly predict the occluded vessel in 63 (85%), AC1 = 0.82 (95% CI 0.72-0.92), p<0.001. Interrater agreement (n=41) was high [AC1 = 0.94 (95% CI 0.87-1.0), p < 0.001].

Conclusion: Perfusion imaging can predict the site of vessel occlusion (vertebral, basilar, or posterior cerebral) in posterior circulation strokes with good accuracy and high inter-rater agreement.