Immediate autologous fat grafting after breast-conserving surgery: evaluation of oncologic safety and cosmetic outcome

Background In breast reconstruction, lipofilling has evolved as a novel and promising method. Objective To evaluate fat graft viability, the oncological outcome of the whole procedure, and cosmetic outcomes in view of physician and patient satisfaction in patients with breast carcinoma receiving breast conservative surgery (BCS) and immediate lipofilling. Patients and methods This study was conducted on 20 female patients who were diagnosed with early breast cancer (stages I and II) amenable to BCS. A new technique of immediate autologous fat grafting in BCS was performed for all patients. Results In this study, regarding the esthetic outcome according to surgeons, three (15%) patients showed excellent results, 13 (65%) patients showed very good results, and four (20%) patients showed good results. Regarding the esthetic outcomes according to the patients using the esthetic numeric analog score, four (20%) patients gave a score of 9/10, nine (45%) patients gave a score of 8/10, six (30%) patients gave a score of 7/10, and one (5%) patient gave a score of 6/10. No local or systemic recurrence was encountered during the follow-up period. Conclusion Immediate fat grafting is a promising technique for immediate volume replacement after BCS. It can reduce the performance of major flaps, thus preventing donor site morbidity and scarring, and also it can reduce a delayed procedure for symmetrization.