Oncologic Safety in Autologous Fat Grafting After Breast Conservation Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Literature

Background Autologous fat grafting (AFG) is often used to reconstruct defects after breast conservation therapy (BCT). However, concerns exist about the possibility of AFG-related recurrence or metastasis. This study aims to evaluate the literature to evaluate oncologic outcomes in patients undergoing AFG at the time of BCT. Methods A systematic review of articles related to AFG based reconstruction at the time of BCT from 1970 to 2021 was performed via PubMed. Patients were grouped based on the presence or lack of AFG usage at the time of BCT, and oncologic outcomes and complications were compared. Results Of the 146 articles identified, 15 were included. Nine hundred patients underwent BCT alone and 1063 patients underwent BCT with AFG patients. Similar average follow-up time was observed between the groups, 58.7 months (BCT only) and 55.2 months (BCT with AFG). On pooled analysis, no difference was identified in local recurrence 4.8% (43 patients) of the BCT group and 3% (32 patients) in the AFG group (P = 0.8), metastasis 4.8% (43 patients) of the BCT group and 6.9% (73 patients) in the AFG group (P = 0.3), or fat necrosis (P = 0.44). Meta-analysis additionally did not identify any statistically significant odds ratios between the BCT only group and BCT with AFG group when evaluated for total recurrence, local recurrence, metastasis or fat necrosis. Conclusions The results show no significant difference in cancer recurrence or metastasis in the BCT only group versus BCT and AFG, showing that fat grafting has safe outcomes.