Autologous fat grafting: A comparative study of four current commercial protocols

International audienceBackground: Autologous fat grafting is a widely used technique that gives natural results when treating soft tissue deficiencies. However, there is no consensus on which is the best procedure to use, leading to unpredictable results because of fat graft resorption.Objectives: This study compared four commercial lipotransfer devices by analyzing the behavior of the processed adipose tissue and outcome of the adipose graft in an in vivo model.Methods: Four different protocols that used manual, power-assisted or water-assisted lipoas-piration and then decantation, centrifugation, or filtration were used on each of eight patients to process lipoaspirate. Harvested adipose tissue was assessed in vitro for tissue resorption, oil formation, and cytokine secretion. Graft resorption rate was calculated and histological analyses were performed after subcutaneously injecting the harvested adipose tissue in a murine model. Results: All protocols resulted in very low oil formation and histologically healthy grafts. The tissue volume was significantly greater after 2 days in culture when using manual lipoaspiration and soft centrifugations/washing steps (Microfill® /Macrofill®) compared to Water-Assisted Li-poaspiration/Decantation (BodyJet®) and Power-Assisted Lipoaspiration/Filtration (PAL® + PureGraft®). These results were confirmed in mice 1 month after subcutaneous injection , with greater efficiency obtained with protocols that used (A) manual aspiration, (B) soft centrifugations, and (C) washing steps

Autologous Fat Grafting in the Breast: Critical Points and Technique Improvements

International audienceBreast augmentation or reconstruction is a major challenge in esthetic and reconstructive surgery. While autologous fat grafting (AFG) provides a natural filler and seems easy to harvest, AFG in breast surgery is still problematic especially due to the high resorption rate associated with megavolume transfer. Despite this pending issue, there is growing interest in this method, which is becoming more and more widespread, as can be seen by the recent increase in the number of clinical studies. This review aims to highlight recent knowledge in the technique of AFG to the breast and recent refined procedures to improve fat viability and long-term success of the graft.Methods Clinical publications and trials of AFG to the breast from the past 5 years were examined. Attention was focused on the different AFG steps and the clinical out- comes, in order to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the available protocols.Results Recent studies have concentrated on new techniques to improve fat viability and graft intake. However, all of these studies use different protocols at each step of the procedure. Furthermore, results may vary depending on the technique used for fat harvesting and processing.Conclusion This review points out the recent advances in breast AFG techniques and their associated outcomes andcomplications. The bibliography has been carefully examined to reach a consensus so that recommendations could be made for each step of the technique with the aim of improving graft viability and long-term volume maintenance