Page 127 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2017

Karen Meyers
That’s when Mace and Biloxi plastic surgeon Michael Diaz, M.D., can step in and offer the most advanced breast cancer procedure in the country. They are the only surgeons in the region who perform the Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator (DIEP) flap. Many breast cancer surgeons do not offer the procedure because the microsurgery requires additional training.
“It’s a much superior type of surgical procedure to anything we have on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Diaz said.
Diaz learned the procedure while he trained at the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans with the surgeons who invented the DIEP flap. It uses the woman’s own skin and fat tissue from her abdomen to reconstruct the breast. The technique does not use foreign
matter to reconstruct new breasts and results in more natural feeling and looking breasts. The DIEP flap also avoids using abdominal muscles making the recovery easier.
Gulfport resident Karen Meyers had the DIEP flap surgery two years ago and says it was the right surgery for her. “For me, it was a cure and I feel very blessed,” she said. “I didn’t want implants and opted for a more natural look.”
A teacher at Hope Academy, Meyers’ breast cancer was found early, beginning with a self exam.
Some people might confuse the DIEP flap with the TRAM flap, except that the TRAM flap uses a small amount of muscle. When muscle is taken from the abdominal (rectus) wall, there is a risk of a hernia occurring later from a weakened wall, Mace said.
“The DIEP flap is nicknamed the tummy tuck flap because tissue from a tummy tuck that would normally be discarded is used,” Mace said.
The end result for many patients is a breast that is natural looking and feeling as well as the results of a tummy tuck, Diaz said. The DIEP flap treats the breast cancer as well as restores the patient’s sense of self, body image and wholeness.
The procedure can be performed on women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, those who have had previous breast cancer surgery without reconstruction, had a failed or unsatisfactory reconstruction with implants or have a BRCA mutation with a high risk for future breast cancer.
Mace and Diaz have been performing the DIEP flap for the past four years, mainly at Garden Park Medical Center in Gulfport, but also at Merit Health Biloxi. The procedure can be done on a Tuesday, and the patient can go home on a Friday, Mace said. “Women have a lot of options, and we talk with our patients to try to find an option we feel is best,” he said.
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October 2017 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 127
October
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is an annual campaign
to increase awareness of the disease. While most women are aware of breast cancer, many forget to take the steps to have a plan to detect the disease in its early stages, and encourage others to do the same.
Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women other than skin
cancer. The American Cancer Society’s estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2017 are:
• Approximately 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.
• Approximately 63,410 new cases
of carcinoma in situ (CIS) will be diagnosed (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer).
• Approximately 40,610 women will die from breast cancer.
Death rates from breast cancer dropped from 1989 to 2007. Since 2007, breast cancer death rates have been steady in women younger than 50, but have continued to decrease in older women. These decreases are believed
to be the result of finding breast cancer earlier through increased awareness, self breast exam, regular mammogram, and better treatments.
T. Paul Mace, M.D., FACS,
228.539.5858
Michael Diaz, M.D., FACS,
228.396.2663