October 21, 2011
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 30, No. 10
patiEnt findS: ‘No Shame to my Game’ BrEaSt rEconStruction
By Dawn Brazell Public Relations
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ynde Brown sits tall, flipping back a strand of auburn hair. “There’s no shame to my game,” she said. She just described her recent double mastectomy and reconstruction involving one of the latest plastic surgery techniques called DIEP or deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap. The procedure uses the fat and skin from the lower abdominal area to reconstruct the breasts by connecting the blood vessels from the abdomen to the blood vessels in the chest wall. She pats her flat stomach. “You can still wear the sexy stuff. You don’t let what the world thinks of you define your own image. Your breasts do not define you. You are defined by yourself – your personality, your soul. Take control of your life. Don’t sit there and wait and be a victim. If you can prevent it, take the most steps you can to prevent – whatever it may be.” Spoken as the spunky survivor that she is, Brown’s first troubles started at age 6 when she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. As a result her liver failed, and she received a liver transplant at
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Cynde Brown’s daughter, shown in the photo in her hand, is one of her main motivators in getting the information she needs about all the latest treatments of breast cancer to make the right decisions.
MUSC at age 31 in 1998, just a year after having lost her mother. Still reeling from her losses, Brown hoped that other than her routine checkups, she was done with her surgeries. Unfortunately in 2005, her sister was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Brown
HEaltH carE rEform The annual Thomas A. Pitts Lectureship will focus on the Accountable Care Act.
eventually got her sister’s pathology reports and sought genetic testing in 2008, finding that she also tested positive for the BRCA 1 mutation. Harmful mutations in these genes produce a hereditary breastovarian cancer syndrome. As a preventative measure, Brown
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had both ovaries removed. In 2010 an MRI revealed she had two masses in her left breast so she decided, given her BRCA 1 status and being immune suppressed for life as a transplant patient, to opt for a double mastectomy with
See Patient on page 8
As a destination center for breast reconstruction, MUSC is offering the latest in services and procedures, including the DIEP flap breast reconstruction (deep inferior epigastric perforator flap). It is one of the most advanced forms of breast reconstruction offered that relocates excess tissue from one area of the body. Donor sites for flap reconstruction often include the abdomen, buttocks, thigh, or back. The decision as to which type of flap to have is based on many factors including: the amount of tissue available at the donor site and the Renee breast size Maschinot’s desired by the patient, story as an placement areola and of scars, and 3-D nipple the patient’s tattoo artist, surgical page 10. history. Visit http://www. breastreconstructionof charleston.com for information on MUSC’s Advanced Breast Reconstuction Program.
Salivary EndoScopy
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Dr. M. Boyd Gillespie uses small instruments to treat blockages.
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Food Day 2011 Meet OJ
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CALEA visit
READ THE CATALYST ONLINE - http://www.musc.edu/catalyst