“ If all goes well, this new technique could revolutionize the approach to breast reconstruction.", anticipates Dr. Délia Dammacco, reconstructive surgeon at the Léon Bérard Center (CLB, Lyon), a leading center for cancer. On March 3, 2025, she performed the tenth post-breast cancer breast reconstruction operation with a new bioprosthesis developed in Lille.
A hollow prosthesis allowing the growth of locally taken fat
Similar to a dome with an openwork surface, this hollow prosthesis serves both as protection and as a mold for a flap of fat taken by the plastic surgeon. The particularity of this approach is to use a fat flap taken from the submammary level instead of taking it from the dorsal or thoracic level.", explains Délia Dammacco. Instead of a four- to eight-hour operation and transplant, potentially leaving scars and pain in several parts of the body, this autologous reconstruction approach (which uses the recipient's own tissue) requires only a single two-hour operation. And unlike breast implants, which must be replaced every 10 years and whose image has been damaged in the public eye by the PIP implant scandal, autologous reconstructions are permanent.
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“ We wanted to take the best of both techniques between autologous reconstructions and breast implants to make a new alternative", explains Julien Payen, CEO of Lattice Medical. Founded in 2017, the company is developing this new bioprosthesis called Mattisse for "three-dimensional textile matrix for tissue reconstruction." The name also refers to the artist Henri Matisse, originally from the city of Calais. In our first experiments, we worked on textile materials to grow fat in them, and we had surprising results with Calais lace!", says Julien Payen. Impossible to medicalize, the textile then gives way to filaments of a copolymer of polylactic acid and polycaprolactone chosen for its ability to reabsorb naturally over the months after implantation. Sensitive to temperature, pH or even enzymes in the body, the polymer gradually fragments until the prosthesis is reabsorbed after about a year.
The prosthesis is absorbed in a few months
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Designed with doctors Philippe Marchetti and Pierre-Marie Danzé and plastic surgeon Pierre Guerreschi from the Lille University Hospital, this bioprosthesis has the scientific name "tissue engineering chamber". The removed tissue is placed in the prosthesis, then the device allows tissue growth over time because the surgical trauma causes inflammation and therefore production of growth factors that make adipocytes reproduce", explains Délia Dammacco. Several mechanisms come into play to allow the fatty tissue to gradually fill the prosthesis as it dissolves. First, the healing fluid produced by the body following the introduction of the prosthesis nourishes the flap through the porous structure of the prosthesis. In addition, the prosthesis provides mechanical protection against the pressure of the skin on one side and that of the muscles on the other.
After implantation, the fatty tissue flap placed in the prosthesis grows and becomes vascularized in the hollow space of the bioprosthesis while the latter slowly resorbs until it is completely eliminated by the body. Credit: Lattice Medical.
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Clinical trial underway on 50 patients
Ten patients have already undergone this new procedure in France and Spain, as part of a first clinical trial called TIDE intended to verify the safety of the procedure. For now, these patients must have cancer diagnosed at an early stage, without chemotherapy or radiotherapy to avoid interference with these treatments.", explains Délia Dammacco. These patients and those who follow, to whom Mattisse is offered for their breast reconstruction, for the aftermath of a preventive breast removal or to replace their silicone prosthesis, will then be followed until 2029.
“ If all goes well after the first six months of observation, from the first 10 patients, the next patients will be included from the last quarter of 2025 to obtain the CE marking necessary for placing on the European market.", summarizes Julien Payen. Lattice Medical hopes to obtain it by 2027, and is already able to ensure the production of several thousand prostheses per year by 3D printing, in several different sizes. " Ultimately, it is a treatment that has the potential to be a first-line option before other techniques, this is the hope that doctors have." concludes Délia Dammacco.
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