Immediate reconstruction with autologous fat grafting : influence in loco regional recurrence in breast cancer

ABSTRACT Objective : to evaluate local and systemic recurrence of breast cancer in patients submitted to autologous fat grafting in the immediate reconstruction after conservative surgery for breast cancer. Methods : this is a historical cohort study comparing 167 patients submitted to conservative surgery without reconstruction (conservative surgery group) with 27 patients submitted to conservative treatment with imme -diate graft reconstruction, following the Coleman’s technique (lipofilling group). All patients had invasive carcinoma and were operated by a single surgeon from 2004 to 2011. The postoperative follow-up time was 36 months. Results : the overall incidence of local recurrence was 2.4%. No patient in the lipofilling group had local recurrence during the study period. For systemic recurrence, the rates obtained were 3.7% (one patient) for the fat grafting group and 1.8% (three patients) for the conservative surgery group without reconstruction. Conclusion : there was no significant difference for local or systemic recurrence in the groups studied. Immediate autologous fat grafting appears to be a safe procedure.