An innovative method of planning and displaying flap volume in DIEP flap breast reconstructions

Determining the ideal volume of the harvested flap in order to achieve symmetry in deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstructions is complex. With preoperative imaging techniques such as 3D stereophotogrammetry and Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) available nowadays, we can combine information to preoperatively plan the optimal flap volume to be harvested. In this proof-of-concept we investigated whether projection of a virtual flap planning onto the patient's abdomen using a projection method could result in harvesting the correct flap volume.

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