Does acellular dermal matrix expand in response to tissue expander inflation?

BACKGROUND: Acellular dermal matrices (ADMs) have recently become widely used in breast reconstruction, but the correlation between the final expander volume and the surface area of the ADM is not well understood. In this study, the expansion of the surface area of ADM and the expander volume was studied retrospectively in cases of acellular dermis-assisted tissue expander breast reconstruction.

METHODS: Twenty cases of immediate breast reconstruction using an ADM-assisted tissue expander from January 2015 to December 2015 were evaluated. In all 20 cases, CGCryoDerm was used as the matrix, with a thickness of 1-3 mm. No slit incisions were made. Finally, the proportional increase in the area of the fully expanded ADM was compared to that of the tissue expander volume.

RESULTS: The proportional increase in the ADM surface area was calculated to be from 1.1 to 2.46, with a mean value of 1.7. Additionally, under the assumption that the expander had a spherical shape, the increase in its radius (the cube root of its volume) was assessed. The range of the proportional increase in the expander radius was 1.1 to 2.24, with a mean value of 1.66. The proportional increase in the radius of the expanded ADM surface area ranged from 1.04 to 1.34, with a mean ratio of 1.28.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study confirmed that the ADM expanded when the tissue expander was inflated. However, the ADM expanded to a lesser extent than the tissue expander, indicating that the muscle and other tissues expanded more than the ADM when the tissue expander was inflated.