Using 3d bioprinting for Nipple Areola Complex (NAC) reconstruction

TeVido Project Summary/Abstract Globally, in 2010, there were slightly more than 1 million incidences of breast cancer. In the US ~200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually and nearly 40% will undergo mastectomies, full removal of the breast.In the US in 2010, more than 93,000 breast reconstructions were performed due to cancer. Patients with loss of the nipple areola complex (NAC) from cancer excision continue to experience psychological distress long after breast mound reconstruction has taken place, yet currently available options are vulnerable to an unpredictable degree of loss of nipple projection, color and possible need for reoperation while issues with symmetry and breast-contour changes are common. The ultimate goal of this researchis the delivery of an autologous NAC graft that has been tissue engineered to address these common issues, it will have a skin layer with pigmentation to match the existing nipple and a projection built of volume-stable adipose (fat) grafts layered into a