Surgeons that do the DIEP TRAM?

09-30-2005, 10:06 AM

Hi! I was wondering if anyone can give me a name or names of surgeons that do the DIEP Tram reconstruction? Thanks, TO

sarah · 09-30-2005, 12:27 PM

think long and hard about doing it. I spoke to several women who had it done and they seemed to think nothing of it but when I woke up from the surgery, if I'd be given the choice to die right then, I'd have taken it. also be sure you have enough stomach to give up. The end result is nice and natural but I'd never do it again. Here in France they don't do it because of the pain factor and instead use the back which supposedly is less painful.

kristen · 09-30-2005, 02:13 PM

I had the S-Gap done and LOVED it!. I didn't have enough on my stomach to have the DIEP done and another member had it done with another doctor and I think she is as happy as I am. But I will let her speak for herself.

I had Dr. Chang at Mercy in Baltimore do mine and the healing time was so minimal and I was driving by week 2. I went out there on a Monday, had the surgery on a Tuesday and flew home on Friday. I had tubes in and my breast surgeon took them out. She was very pleased with the surgery and told me next time I went out there to bring back a handful of cards! No-one in this area does them. All I had to do was prove to the insurance carrier that no one in a 50 miles radius did them and they covered the whole expense. Except travel expenses. I also like the fact that now that I have to have a LAVH that I did not have any abdominal surgery. So this is an option for me. If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them for you.

jojo · 09-30-2005, 02:35 PM

I would think that tram flap seemed to be more common than diep flap, so make sure that your surgeon was experienced enough to do diep. Good luck!

sonyamagee · 09-30-2005, 08:15 PM

please excuse my ignorance but what is LAVH?

kristen · 10-01-2005, 04:48 PM

Hi Sonya,

Your not ignorant. I had to find the brochure to find out the correct name for it! It's called a Laparoscopically Assisted Vaginal Hysterectomy. It is where they will make 3 little incisions, one by the belly button to snip the uterus and one on each side to snip the ovaries and then they pull it out through the vagina. It is supposed to be a lot less painful and have a shorter recovery time. It also has can assist the doctor in looking in there first to see if anything is wrong and if so, if it is not the best course of action, they can go ahead and do an abdominal hysterectomy.