Breast and chest wall reconstruction with the transverse musculocutaneous gracilis flap in Poland syndrome.

Poland syndrome is a complex chest wall deformity with unilateral hypoplasia of the breast and pectoralis muscle, with a missing anterior axillary fold in its most common form. The authors report their combined experience and technique with the transverse myocutaneous gracilis flap to reconstruct the chest wall and breast either alone or simultaneously. Between June of 2004 and July of 2010, 11 patients (two male patients) were operated on and 14 flaps were transplanted. The authors found that the transverse myocutaneous gracilis flap proved to be a very valuable microsurgical alternative for reconstructing the chest wall and female breast in Poland syndrome with autologous tissue. The flap provides the surgeon maximal freedom of flap insetting for optimal symmetry together with a very inconspicuous donor site regardless of unilateral or bilateral harvesting.