Ricerc@Sapienza

Increasingly affordable three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies now make it possible for surgeons to create highly customizable patient tailored products. This process provides the potential to produce individualized artificial and biologic implants, regenerative scaffolds, and cell-specific replacement tissue and organs.
A range of standardized breast implants with different profiles, shapes, and sizes are commercially available; however, they may not be well suited for all patients. Multiple studies have confirmed that most women have some degree of breast asymmetry in up to 81% to 88%. Postmastectomy patients seeking reconstructive surgeries have even more discernible differences that may prove to be an added challenge in creating a consistently balanced appearance.
These findings underscore the importance and emphasize the need for a customized breast implant that can more accurately compliment anatomical variations to produce more uniform aesthetic.
The ideal implant for breast reconstruction should be a biological implant with natural feel, customized proportions and projection, as well as utilization of denser biologic substrates such as collagen. 3D-printing is a form of additive or subtractive manufacturing, which is a precise computer-controlled process where either successive layering of material is deposited to produce a 3D end product. This process provides the potential to produce everything from artificial and biologic implants, regenerative scaffolds to cell-specific replacement tissue and organs. The aim of this project is to evaluate the outcomes in using 3D printed custom made silicon breast implant in patient undergoing immediate prepectoral breast reconstruction and compare the results with patients undergoing prepectoral breast reconstruction with standard silicon gel implant and ADM (dermal acellular matrix) and patients undergoing immediate breast autologous reconstruction with DIEP (Deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap.