Reconstructive Surgery

Reconstructive surgery is an important component of comprehensive cancer care and is often a vitally important step for patients to regain normal function after cancer-related treatments. At the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, patients benefit from some of the latest advances in reconstructive surgery and wound care.

Services are offered by Rajiv Y. Chandawarkar, M.D., a plastic surgeon who is fellowship trained in cancer reconstructive surgery and is also a fully trained cosmetic surgeon. He is the director of the Division of Reconstructive Surgery at the Health Center.

Dr. Chandawarkar works closely with multidisciplinary teams within the Cancer Center, and offers state-of-the-art reconstructive services for patients with breast cancer, head and neck cancers, gastrointestinal cancers and more. As a member of these multidisciplinary teams, Dr. Chandawarkar meets with patients, early in the process, and explains options to consider.

Dr. Chandawarkar joined the Health Center in 2003 from the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, in Houston, where he completed fellowship training in cancer reconstruction and microvascular surgery in the department of plastic surgery.

Microvascular surgery is considered the “gold standard” for certain reconstruction surgeries, including breast reconstruction following a mastectomy. In microvascular surgery, tissues are transplanted from a donor site elsewhere in the body, most commonly from the lower abdomen, along with individual blood vessels that are carefully rejoined to blood vessels at the site being reconstructed. This is done with approximately 10 sutures, each of which is thinner than human hair.

The transplanted tissue has a more robust blood supply than conventional reconstruction and has better healing and less scarring.

Not all reconstructive surgeries involve mircrovascular surgery. When appropriate, Dr. Chandawarkar also uses artificial implants and other materials.