A new surgery option is available for Avera patients. It’s called microvascular breast reconstruction and is a game changer for women who have had mastectomies.
Jamie Risse loves spending time outdoors at her home near Lake Madison.
It’s a place where she can relax and unwind.
But back in 2020 she received news that changed her life.
“Every January I’m just like clockwork, I go in for my mammogram, so I went in that morning and I don’t know, I just didn’t feel right that day, I thought something was bothering me or something was wrong, so I went in and I did my mammogram and I went out and got a call that afternoon that I needed to redo it,” said Avera patient, Jamie Risse.
After tests, she found out she had intraductal carcinoma, and would have a double mastectomy.
“Went in and had my surgery and what was removal of the cancer, everything was great, I started having my implants filled with the solution, once I had my actual implants put in, it was probably not even 7, 8 months, I had to go back in because they were going on my stitch line and making it break open, to the point it could come out.”
Eventually, Risse met with Laura Figura, MD, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, who suggested she try microvascular breast reconstruction.
“Microvascular surgery is where we disconnect the artery and a couple of veins from a portion of tissue that we are going to move from one location to another, and then the microvascular part comes in where we sew those blood vessels together to a recipient vessel at the site where we are going to place the tissue, so a lot of that work is done under the microscope,” Figura said.
At that time, the surgery wasn’t offered at Avera.
But Dr. Figura and Dr. Jason Fowler, who is also a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, helped bring this option to Avera.
“I really wanted to be able to offer all types of breast reconstruction here at Avera, we have an exceptional breast program, we’re very focused on trying to provide everything that each individual patient needs and this was the final step,” said Dr. Figura.
“We talked with administration, we talked to nurses, the OR, and looked if this is a feasible thing that we can do here, but a lot of it started just with a passion for caring for patients, keeping them home, keeping them where they want to be. We had the technical expertise to do it, we just needed to make sure we had the support from the institution to do a really good job,” said plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Jason Fowler, MD, PhD.
That led to Risse being one of the first patients to have this procedure done at Avera.
“Day of surgery, I was 15 hours in the OR, I did fine, I felt bad for my husband and kids because they had to go through all of that, but the surgeons came out to take a break and they came out and talked to my family and said how things were going,” said Risse.
The surgery takes skin from the legs or stomach and connects it to the chest.
“Almost any patient is a potential candidate, but they need to have a good donor site. Most women, especially women who develop breast cancer, are typically mothers, they have extra tissue in their abdomen they would love to get rid of and so it’s a nice marriage of patient who needs to have tissue brought up to their breast and want to have tissue removed from their abdomen,” said Figura.
Risse is happy with her outcome after surgery. And is now able to feel comfortable again and enjoy making memories in her happy place.
“I was like this is cool, there’s two surgeons in Sioux Falls that are willing to do this, to help women feel whole again if they can’t have implants or whatever the reasoning is, it’s a comforting feeling,” said Risse.
All while staying close to home.
“Being close to home is important, when you’re going through something, it can be anything from a stroke with a family member or breast cancer, having the ability to go home and sleep in your own bed, have the ability to have family that is near where you live, not being in a strange place - it’s good for the patient, it’s good for recovery,” said Dr. Fowler.
