Extensive chest wall resection and reconstruction are a challenging procedure that requires a multidisciplinary approach, including input from thoracic surgeon, plastic surgeon and oncologist. In particular chest wall neoplastic pathology is associated with high surgical morbidity and can result in full thickness defects hard to reconstruct. The goals of a successful chest wall reconstruction are to restore the chest wall rigidity, preserve pulmonary mechanic and protect the intrathoracic organs minimizing the thoracic deformity. In case of large full thickness defects synthetic, biologic or composite meshes can be used, with or without titanium plate to restore thoracic cage rigidity as like as more recently the use of allograft to reconstruct the sternum. After skeletal stability is established full tissue coverage can be achieved using direct suture, skin graft or local advancement flaps, pedicled myocutaneous flaps or free flaps. The aim of this article is to illustrate the indications, various materials and techniques for chest wall reconstruction with the goal to obtain the best chest wall rigidity and soft tissue coverage. by scapula and shoulder girdle, with the exception of defects lower than 4th rib posteriorly, with the tip of the scapula at risk to entrapment (3,12,13). With the increased availability of reconstruction materials, then, and particularly biologic materials, some surgeons proposed the reconstruction of nearly all chest wall defects, with the objective to avoid patient perception of chest wall instability (3,5,13).The primary goals of all chest wall reconstructions are to obliterate dead space, restore chest wall rigidity, preserve pulmonary mechanic, protect intrathoracic organs, provide soft tissue coverage, minimize deformity and allow patients to receive adjuvant radiotherapy if indicated (3,9). Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach, including input from thoracic surgeons, plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons as well as medical and radiation oncologists is essential.Actually several synthetic, biologic, and metallic materials are available to reconstruct the chest wall defects, but each prosthetic material has its own advantages and disadvantages and none have proven to be clearly superior (4,12). In particular, the benefit of each material and technique of reconstruction need to be weighed against to main indicators, as the risk of infection and other major complications that could be fail the reconstructive result.The recent advance in allograft and homograft production have provided new alternatives for restoring structural stability, preventing the infective complications (3,14).We would describe the main reconstructive techniques and materials more adopted on Literature reports and an overview to the incoming future of chest wall reconstruction.
Synthetic, biologic and titanium meshesThe use of a metal prostheses was first reported by a French surgeon in 1909 (15), but in the 1940s better-tolerated and easier to use materials, as plastic components emerged, modifying the ...