Lipofilling of the Breast Does Not Increase the Risk of Recurrence of Breast Cancer : A Matched Controlled Study BREAST

www.PRSJournal.com 385 A survey of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2010 regarding the safety of autologous fat grafting (lipofilling) of the breast found that 49 percent of respondents considered the lack of evidence supporting the oncologic safety of lipofilling to be a significant obstacle to its use for breast reconstruction or cosmetic augmentation.1 A concern is that adult adipose tissue–derived stem cells transferred with the lipoaspirate may reactivate dormant tumor cells within the breast or activate primary breast cancer. Clinical and animal studies have shown conflicting results2–5 as to whether lipofilling confers a higher risk for recurrence of breast cancer. Furthermore, it remains unknown which groups of patients might be more susceptible to any lipofilling-induced increase in the risk of recurrence. Although lipofilling of the breast is performed worldwide in thousands of patients per year, including as an alternative to implant placement for breast augmentation in some patients, there has been no study published with a control group regarding the oncologic safety of lipofilling in general or lipofilling of the breast. This lack of