About 1960 I was in a doctors office and saw a book the size of a
large dictionary and it had a breast operation called "The Cyclops" in
which one breast was removed and the other moved to the center. My
family thinks I just dreamed it. Please help. Lew

Hi  gienge,

Here is the abstract of the article to which the commenter below
referred. According to the abstract, the procedure was used  three
times from 1995 to 1997. Print out the abstract below to prove to your
family that this procedure did actually exist! Keep in mind that the
reconstructed ?Cyclops? breast was not intended to stay in the center
of the chest. It was merely used to ?grow? the tissue, to be used in
reconstruction.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9326775&dopt=Citation

Newer types of ?flap? reconstruction surgery, utilizing tissue
expanders and implants have replaced the older ?Cyclops? procedure. 
(Who would want a surgical procedure with that name, anyway?) ?Factors
that influence the selection of a reconstruction technique include:
type of mastectomy performed; the use of radiation and/or
chemotherapy; age; medical history; location and quality of the
surgical scar; quality of the chest wall skin and muscle; and
condition and any scars of the abdominal wall and back.?
http://www.pinkribbon.com/recon.htm

 In a similar but more efficient and modern type of surgery, the TRAM
procedure uses skin from one part of the body to form a reconstructed
breast. After the TRAM, the nipple and surrounding tissue are moved to
the new mound of tissue, and the newly formed breast has little to no
sensation however.

?In a surgical technique known as a TRAM flap (transverse rectus
abdominis myocutaneous), the breast is reconstructed using tissue from
your abdomen, buttocks, upper back or hip. A myocutaneous flap is a
section of your tissue (skin, fat and muscle) that is moved from one
part of your body to another. The area chosen to provide this tissue
is called the harvesting area.?
There are illustration on this site of the TRAM flap procedure.
http://www.alwaysyouthful.com/tram-flap-tissue-flap-specialist.htm

Other ?Flap Surgery? information.
http://www.diepflap.com/articles/0053.html

http://www.plasticsurgery.co.nz/brs-flaps.asp

http://www.lookingyourbest.com/info/breastreconstruction-tissueflaps.php


You may now tell your family you did not simply dream this procedure,
although it *does* seem to be nightmare material! If any part of this
anwswer is unclear, please request an Answer Clarification, before
rating. This will allow me to assist you further, if possible.

Regards,
crabcakes

Search Terms
cyclops flap
reconstructive breast surgery + flap

Hi giege,

I am a surgical resident and your question intrigued me.  I started
looking it up in old surgical texts and found something very
interesting.

The cyclops flap was a procedure used in plastic and reconstructive
surgery a long time ago.  It never really caught on for apparent
reasons.

It was done in women with "large pendulous breasts and a contralateral
adjavent defect".  THis basically means it was done in women who may
have had one segment of breast removed and the other breast was large
and pendulous.

The nipple was repositioned into the center of the chest wall because
nipple tissue could not be duplicated.  A flap was then prepared from
the remaining breast tissue.It was rotated towards the area and
sutured.  Once the rotation flap had been sutured it was left to take.
 Once everything had taken, the nipple was then transferred back to
the area from where it was taken.

There is an interesting article in the Journal of Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgery.  If you really want to impress your family,
pull out htis article from any medical library.  It describles the
preparation of the flap.

Plast Reconstr Surg. 1997 Oct;100(5):1146-51; discussion 1152.

Anyway, with the modern advent of tissue expanders and breast
prosthesis, this procedure died out.  But it is still advocated in
certain select cases where the prosthetics are not indicated for
whatever reason.


Enjoy