Plastic Surgery for Reconstruction of the Trunk and Chest Wall

Dear Readers,

it is with great pleasure that we present this special issue on Plastic Surgery of the trunk and thoracic wall in the Zentralblatt für Chirurgie. Jörg Kalff, editor of this journal, had the idea of compiling an interdisciplinary issue on this topic. Breast reconstruction in breast cancer was deliberately omitted, with the focus instead on defect coverage. A total of 10 articles, including eight original papers and two review articles, were obtained from five university hospitals and one occupational health clinic.

Plastic Surgery is one of the ten equally ranked disciplines of surgery as represented in the German Society for Surgery (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie, DGCH). The use of reconstructive microsurgery allows extensive defects of the trunk and chest wall to be replaced in close interdisciplinary collaboration with visceral and thoracic surgery. This enables radical debridements and tumour resections that would otherwise not be possible. Complex defects following trauma or tumours can thus be treated while maintaining the patient’s quality of life and restoring the anatomy both functionally and aesthetically.

Microsurgical reconstructions of this kind can only be performed in hospitals that have the necessary infrastructure. In addition to state-of-the-art equipment such as surgical microscopes, micro-instruments and access to operating theatres, a team of experienced microsurgeons is also required. Competent interdisciplinary cooperation on an equal footing therefore requires at least an independent Plastic Surgery department. A single senior physician is not sufficient for this. Unfortunately, even among the 35 university hospitals, only about one third have the necessary infrastructure. All too often, the current medical standard of Plastic Surgery cannot be offered to patients, or this leads to considerable delays until patients can be treated at a suitably equipped Plastic Surgery institution.

As in extremity surgery, where the concept of “orthoplastic surgery” [1] has led to close interdisciplinary cooperation between Plastic Surgery and Orthopaedics/Trauma Surgery for the preservation of extremities, it also makes sense to establish and practise close interdisciplinary cooperation in the field of trunk and thoracic wall surgery. The stated goal should be to provide an infrastructure that is in line with the current state of surgery in terms of prompt, immediate reconstruction, thereby sharpening the expertise of maximum care clinics.

With this in mind, dear readers, this issue aims to provide you with an overview of the current possibilities of Plastic Surgery on the trunk and chest wall, thereby raising awareness of the importance of involving Plastic Surgery at an early stage in the planning of necessary complex reconstructions.

We would like to thank all authors and reviewers for their contribution to the success of this special issue and hope you enjoy reading and implementing its contents.

Riccardo Giunta and Jörg Kalff

Munich and Bonn, October 2025

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

• Literatur/References

• 1 Giunta RE, Hirche C. [Orthoplastic surgery – multidisciplinary approach as the key to successful limb reconstruction]. Handchir Mikrochir Plast Chir 2025;

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. November 2025