Breast reconstruction following a mastectomy can be a painful and generally unpleasant experience that requires
office visits for regular saline injections that pump up the implanted expander. AirXpanders out of Palo Alto, CA has announced that the first patient has been enrolled in an IDE trial of its AeroForm technology that allows women to control the expansion of the implant on their own using a remote control.
AeroForm implants contain a CO2 cartridge connected to a wireless controller that regulates how much gas is let out into the expander. Under normal circumstances the gas is let out in a slow continuous stream, but the patient can make changes to the rate of the expansion.
It’s hard to avoid the obvious possibility of such technology one day reaching the aesthetic plastic surgeon’s office and women being able to “adjust” to the dress they’re wearing.
Press release: AirXpanders Announces First Patient Treated in IDE Trial of New Post-Mastectomy Tissue Expansion Device
Product page: AirXpanders AeroForm
Trial info page: Patient Controlled Tissue Expansion for Breast Reconstruction (XPAND)
Flashback: Tissue Expansion System for Breast Reconstruction Receives FDA Investigational Device Exemption