Autologous Fat Grafting in Reconstructive Breast Surgery: Clinically Relevant Factors Affecting the Graft Take

Autologous fat grafting is an effective tool for soft tissue augmentation in reconstructive breast surgery. Despite the major advantages of this minimally invasive approach, the unpredictability of graft survival presents challenges.

No clear consensus on the optimal technique has yet been published and well-defined prospective studies investigating impairing factors are lacking. This aim of this study was to generate valuable fundamental data.

Ten female patients undergoing elective autologous fat grafting after nipple-sparing mastectomy were enrolled. Punch biopsies and lipoaspirates were collected from the harvest site for histologic, gene expression, and scanning electron microscopic analysis. Noninvasive Lipometer measurements determining the subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness at the graft site were used to calculate the respective take rate. Patient- and surgery-related data were acquired and correlated with the take rate.

A statistically relevant correlation between the take rate and the existing mean subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness at the grafted breast prior to surgery was observed. An approximate correlation was identified regarding the number of previous grafting sessions, body weight, and BMI. No statistically significant correlation was demonstrated for age, harvest site, or the mean adipocyte size. A lower level of cell damage was observed in scanning electron microscopic samples of washed lipoaspirates; and a strong indirect correlation with the expression of the adipocyte markers FABP4 and PLIN1 was apparent.

Factors correlating to the take rate were identified. Future studies investigating the clinical relevance of each impairing factor are essential to contribute to the optimization of this valuable method.