onkommon.com
Local therapy
Reconstructive & restorative surgery
Rebuilding what cancer surgery removes, planned before the first operation, not after it.
Delivered at a partner unit
What it is
Breast reconstruction, head and neck free flaps, limb-sparing reconstruction and stoma reversal restore form and function after cancer surgery. Immediate reconstruction, done in the same sitting, generally gives better results than delayed reconstruction.
The commonest failure is sequencing: a patient is operated on, then told about reconstruction afterwards, when the options have narrowed. Reconstruction belongs in the first board discussion.
When it is used
- Before mastectomy
- Before major head and neck resection
- Limb-sparing sarcoma surgery
- Stoma reversal planning
- Where appearance or function will be materially affected
How the decision is made
- Immediate or delayed, and what radiotherapy plans do to that choice.
- Implant or own tissue, with the recovery and revision implications of each.
- What the realistic result looks like, from someone who will not oversell it.
Planned at the board with a reconstructive surgeon present; performed at a partner surgical unit.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- Reconstruction discussed at the board before the cancer operation is booked
- A joint consultation with the cancer surgeon and the reconstructive surgeon
- Written expectation setting, including revision rates
- Post-operative rehabilitation and lymphoedema planning
Performed and billed elsewhere
- The reconstructive operation
- Implants and prostheses
- Inpatient stay
- If reconstruction has not been mentioned before your cancer operation is scheduled, ask. Afterwards, some options are closed.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- Can reconstruction be done at the same time?
- How will radiotherapy affect the result?
- How many operations in total, realistically?
- Can I see the range of results, not just the best ones?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Breast cancer
Including hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive and triple-negative disease
Oral, head & neck cancer
Mouth, tongue, cheek, gum, throat, voice box and salivary gland cancers
Sarcoma & bone tumours
Soft-tissue sarcoma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, GIST
Colorectal cancer
Colon and rectal cancer, bowel cancer
Not sure this is the right option for you?
That is exactly what a second opinion is for. Bring what you have, we will tell you what is missing and what the alternatives actually are, in writing.