This might be the ultimate
do-it-yourself project: Doctors are testing a device that would let women do
part of their own breast reconstruction at home. It’s aimed at not only making
treatment for breast cancer more comfortable and convenient, but also giving
women a sense of control – something cancer often takes away. According to a
recent study published in ‘The Lancet’, India and China have the largest number
of women with breast and cervical cancer. Many patients of breast cancer
undergo surgery to remove a cancerous breast, and several choose reconstruction
with an implant. To make room for a permanent one, many patients get a tissue
expander, a temporary pouch that is gradually enlarged with saline to stretch
the remaining skin and muscle. This means trips to the doctor every week or two
for several months for injections of saline into the pouch, which can be
painful. This device is called AeroForm. AeroForm patients finished tissue
expansion in half the time and were able to get implants a month sooner than
others who had the usual saline treatments. There was no difference in rated of
side-effects such as infections, but seven air expanders malfunctioned versus
only one saline one. The device was tweaked to fix the problem.
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