Mermaid Centre first with new procedure (From Falmouth Packet)

Mermaid Centre first with new procedure

9:20am Wednesday 10th February 2010

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The Mermaid Centre at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro has become the first in the South West to carry out a new procedure for women with breast cancer.

Following a £29,000 donation by Truro Breast Cancer Support Group, consultants at the centre are now able to carry out Lipo Modelling – a technique which uses a patient’s own fat as part of breast re-construction.

Four patients have already been treated and so far the feedback has been positive. The waiting list already has 30 more keen to have the procedure.

Professor Phil Drew, who leads the service at the Mermaid Centre, said: “There are around 500 women a year with breast cancer in Cornwall and 70 per cent have breast conservation surgery, where just a bit is removed. These women have kept their breast and the modern oncoplastic surgical techniques we now use in the treatment of breast cancer such as reduction and uplift have dramatically improved the final appearance but occasionally it doesn’t look acceptable to a patient and there may be visible indents. Before these new techniques were introduced and prior to Lipo-modelling there were a large number of women with problems and no one had a solution for them. For some women it was awful. Of the women I have treated with Lipo modelling, 85 per cent were happy with the outcome although it does have to be said that it does not work for all women.”

Maria Parkyn from Redruth was one of the first to have lipo modelling in Cornwall with her procedure taking place at St Michael’s Hospital, Hayle.

Maria said: “Before I had this operation done I would never wear tight tops or cardigans. I just felt self conscious all the time. When I heard about this operation I wanted it because I had lost my confidence and I didn’t feel whole as a woman.”

Maria, who works as a discharge co-ordinator at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, had surgery for breast cancer in 2005 and was left with a large indent and scar. She said: “Having had lipo modelling even the appearance of the scar has improved. It did take a good nine months for it all to settle down after the procedure but I still think it is just wonderful. I really have been treated excellently and this really has been the icing on the cake for me.”

Lipo modelling was developed by cosmetic surgeons who used it to plump out cheeks and lips before US surgeon Sydney Coleman and French surgeon Emmanuel Delay started using it in breasts.

Lipo modelling allows the surgeons to remove stem cell rich fat from donor sites using liposuction, usually the abdomen and thighs, and after special processing, inject it into the breast where around 70 per cent is expected to take forming a living part of the tissue. The procedure, which requires a general anaesthetic, is usually done as a day case or overnight stay and takes around two hours with three or four surgeons working at the same time. Because the equipment is mobile, the surgery can be done in Truro or at St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle.

When the procedure is carried out depends on a balance of factors including risk of cancer recurrence and the psychological condition of the patient. Professor Drew said: “I usually recommend that they wait three years in order to get through the period of highest risk, complete any cancer treatment and let the radiotherapy changes settle but every patient represents an individual and risks and benefits vary. Ultimately patient input is the vital component of the decision making process.”

All the surgeons at the Mermaid Centre and several from elsewhere in the UK have been trained in the process by Professor Drew, who learnt the technique from Professor Delay in Lyon, France as well as several UK meetings and demonstrations. He said: “Four years ago I went to France to learn from Delay and I have been doing Lipo modelling in the UK since then, firstly in the North East of England where I worked and now here in Cornwall.”

With the appointment of three oncoplastic surgeons in Truro - Iain Brown, Professor Drew and Sheik Ahmad - “in county” breast reconstruction including lipo modelling is now offered to all women – there is no age limit and the only exceptions are where there is a severe medical illness.

Professor Drew said: “It is the choice of the women as to what they have done – breast conservation and radiotherapy or mastectomy. There is no difference in the likelihood of cancer re-occurrence if someone chooses breast conservation.”

And there could be more good news for the Mermaid Centre’s patients in the future. The medical team are also closely watching work taking place in Yorkshire which involves taking muscle and skin from the back to the front and combining it with implants or Lipo modelling. Professor Drew said: “We are looking at the possibility of doing that here. With this procedure the patient would get a new breast made from her own tissue providing she was willing to wait longer for the procedure.”

Professor Philip Drew has been at RCHT for 15 months. Professor Drew is originally from Cornwall, growing up in St Agnes and attending Redruth School.

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