In mammaplasty, such as in breast reconstruction after mastectomy, reduction mammaplasty and augumentation mammaplasty, it is most important to achieve volumetric symmetry. Thus, to this end preoperative determination of breast volume is necessary and enables precise planning of mammaplasty.
Although several methods have been developed to estimate breast volume, some are difficult to utilize clinically, while others are innacurate. As a result, there are few reports of normal values for breast volume.
In order to develop a new volumetric method and establish normal values for breast volume, sequential ultrasono-tomographic images of the breasts of 62 healthy Japanese women were obtained by means of a fully automatic waterpath mechanical compound scanner. The contour of the breast and of the mammary gland was determined anually on each image using a digitizer. The volumes were computed by reconstruction technique. The precision of this method was confirmed by comparison with a water displacement technique using a breast phantom.
The average volumes of the breasts were rt. : 321.0 ± 183.4cm
3, 1t. : 314.9 ± 167.6cm
3. No significant correlation was indicated between breast volume and age, but the breast volume correlated significantly with mammary gland volume and moderately with the obesity index.
The average mammary gland volumes were rt. : 156.9 ± 91.3cm
3, 1t : 152.0 ± 84.8cm
3. The gland volume correlated poorly with age and moderately with the obesity index. The average ratios of glandular volume to breast volume (G/B ratio) were rt. :.495±. 109, 1t. :.486±.107. The G/B ratio correlated highly with reference to age and moderately to obesity index. Analysis of the G/B ratio differences between groups with or without milk feeding experience was approached, but no positive statistical significance was achieved.
Thus, volumetric determination of the breast using ultrasono-tomography is shown to be a reliable method for mammaplasty, and also applicable for mammary glands, in various cases. These values may also indicate a quantative basis of the breast growth and atrophy during life.
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