Logo

Article Details

Case Report
Volume 2, Issue 1

Vertical Mastectomy with Lateral Wound Closure: Description of an Original Technique

Jason E. Copeland1,2,3*, Cherian J. Cherian1,2,3, Kadeem Knight1,2 and Lysandra Spence1,2

1Department of Surgery, Anaesthesia, Radiology and Emergency Medicine, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, WI
2Department of General Surgery, Kingston Public Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, WI
3The Breast Health and Oncology Care Centre at the Andrews Memorial Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, WI

*Corresponding author: Jason E. Copeland, Department of Surgery, Anaesthesia, Radiology and Emergency Medicine, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, WI. E-mail: jecopeland9@yahoo.com

Received: November 19, 2025; Accepted: December 06, 2025; Published: January 05, 2026

Citation: Copeland JE, Cherian CJ, Knight K, et al. Vertical Mastectomy with Lateral Wound Closure: Description of an Original Technique. J Breast Cancer Case Rep. 2026; 2(1): 107.

Article Image
Abstract

Total mastectomy is the most common breast surgery performed for breast cancer in developing countries. In most of these mastectomies, the Stewart’s or the Orr incisions are utilized, however the resulting scars from these traditional incisions are conspicuously centred across the anterior chest and the resulting scar may not be aesthetically satisfying. Our vertical mastectomy technique with lateral wound closure, utilizes anterior-medial and posterior-lateral skin flaps which are sutured in the anterior axillary line, extending transversely into the inframammary fold. This provides an elegant closure with no visible scar lines in the centre of the ipsilateral chest. The technique can be utilized for non-T4 tumors in all quadrants of the breast and for unifocal T4-tumors involving the outer quadrants, once it is possible to sufficiently laterally displace the nipple-areolar complex. Here we describe the first utilizing this technique for a patient with metastatic breast cancer with an uncontrolled primary.