Objective To investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of employing the lateral thoracic adipofascial (LTA) arbitrary flaps to reconstruct lateral breast defects following quadrantectomy or partial mastectomy.

Methods A total of 67 female patients who underwent quadrantectomy or segmental mastectomy were selected between February 2014 and December 2018. The lateral breast defects created by the quadrantectomy or partial mastectomy (mammoplasty group) were reconstructed with the LTA flaps in 33 patients, whereas those of the other 34 patients were not reconstructed (non-mammoplasty group). All patients were followed up to assess the surgery-related complications, breast appearance, and recurrence of disease.

Results In the mammoplasty group, the size of the LTA flaps ranged from 1.6 cm×4.4 cm×16 cm to 3.5 cm×8 cm×21 cm, and the mean volume of resected breast tissue was 73.8 (50-106) g. The mean operative time in the mammoplasty group and non-mammoplasty group was 72.0 (60.0-85.0) min and 60.0 (55.0~65.0) min, respectively (P=0.001). The hospitalization stay and the drainage time were not significantly different between the two groups. In the mammoplasty group, 2 patients (6.1%) exhibited partial adipose liquefaction, and 2 patients (6.1%) had wound infection. The overall aesthetic score in the mammoplasty group was 4.2 (4.0-4.5) points, which was significantly higher than that in the non-mammoplasty group (2.11.3-2.7) points(P < 0.05).

Conclusions The LTA arbitrary flaps could effectively repair the small-to-medium-sized breast defects, particularly those located in the outer quadrant.