WOMEN who undergo a mastectomy have a top team they can turn to for breast reconstruction.

Mr Venkat Ramakrishnan and his colleagues at the St Andrew’s Centre at Broomfield Hospital offer a service that is the envy of other counties.

Mr Ramakrishnan said: “At the St Andrew’s Centre we run one of the biggest breast reconstruction services, covering the whole of Essex and north-east London. We probably perform more breast reconstructions than any other unit in the country and last year performed more than 300.

“We can offer ladies every type of reconstruction available, mostly using their own body tissue to rebuild the breast.

“When some women have a mastectomy they have an implant to rebuild the breast or reconstruction using body tissue, which is far better.

“By using the patient’s own body tissue it works much better as it behaves like a real breast and doesn’t ever have to be replaced. When the women increases or loses weight the reconstructed breast does the same.”

Any women considering breast reconstruction can join the BRA (Breast Reconstruction Awareness) group, which meets once a month. For more information call breast reconstruction nurse Jayne Knight on 01245 516136.