AirXpanders is promoting the results of a study demonstrating several advantages of its AeroForm tissue expander over traditional saline expanders for breast reconstruction.
The researchers, led by Dr. Karan Chopra of Johns Hopkins University, compared the outcomes of performing breast reconstructions on 115 patients through a new technique that utilized either the AeroForm tissue expander or a traditional saline expander.
They found that the AeroForm group experienced considerably fewer adverse events (32.4% with AeroForm versus 45.9% with traditional expanders), fewer postoperative wound infections (0% versus 5.4%), fewer incidences of full-thickness skin necrosis (0% versus 5.4%), shorter time for breast expansion (45 days versus 87 days), and shorter time to complete breast reconstruction (94 days versus 143 days) (Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, March 25, 2019).
"The benefits from a patient care perspective include less burden on the patient for clinic visitation and decreased utilization of healthcare resources during the fill process," the authors wrote. "Moreover, this expands the ability for breast centers to care for more patients since the time scheduled for expansions is eliminated."
AirXpander also announced that it will introduce radiation software company Radformation's EZFluence software to U.S. medical centers that are using AirXpanders' AeroForm tissue expander. Integrating the technologies will reduce the time needed to plan radiation therapy for breast reconstruction patients and may improve usage of the AeroForm tissue expander, according to the firms.
