Breast reconstruction after cancer. Chest of a 52 year old female patient two months after a fleur-de-lis DIEP flap breast reconstruction following removal of cancer from her left breast (right). In this type of reconstruction, blood vessels called deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP), as well as the skin and fat connected to them, are transferred to the chest from the abdomen. A fleur-de-lis flap takes tissue from a horizontal incision across the lower abdomen a vertical incision up the centre of the abdomen. This allows reconstruction of the breast after mastectomy without the sacrifice of any of the abdominal muscles.