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Oncological safety of reconstruction with autologous fat grafting in breast cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

To evaluate the oncological safety of autologous fat grafting and its effect on disease-free survival and local recurrence in breast cancer patients with autologous fat grafting (AFG) reconstruction. A literature search was performed using the Pubmed, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane libraries from January 2011 to March 2020, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, to identify all relevant studies involving the application of autologous fat grafting in breast cancer reconstruction procedures. The primary outcome of the meta-analysis was a difference in incidence rates of locoregional recurrence and disease-free survival (DFS) between patients who had autologous fat grafting and controls. A total of 11 studies were included. Eight studies reported local–regional recurrences (LRR) and five studies reported disease-free survival (DFS) in 5,886 patients. Our meta-analysis of all included studies about survival outcomes showed AFG was not associated with increased LRR and DFS. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) (95% CIs) for LRR and DFS were 1.26 (0.90–1.76) and 1.27 (0.96–1.69), respectively. According to the published literature, autologous fat grafting did not result in an increased rate of LRR and DFS in patients with breast cancer. Autologous fat grafting can, therefore, be performed safely in breast reconstruction after breast cancer.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author notes

  1. Jiale Sun, He Liang and Dongcai Lin contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast Surgery, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 113 of Baohe Street, Longgang District, Shenzhen, 518116, Guangdong Province, China

    Jiale Sun, Dongcai Lin & Jidong Gao

  2. Department of Research and Education, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, 518116, China

    He Liang

  3. Ninth Department, Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100144, China

    Bing Han & Tiran Zhang

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  1. Jiale Sun
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  2. He Liang
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  3. Dongcai Lin
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  4. Bing Han
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Contributions

Conception and design of the research: SJL, LH, LDC, GJD. Acquisition of data: SJL, LH, LDC, HB. Analysis and interpretation of the data: SJL, LH, LDC, ZTR. Statistical analysis: SJL, LH, LDC, HB, ZTR, GJD. Obtaining financing: None. Writing of the manuscript: SJL, LH, LDC. Critical revision of the manuscript for intellectual content: GJD.

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Correspondence to Jidong Gao.

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Sun, J., Liang, H., Lin, D. et al. Oncological safety of reconstruction with autologous fat grafting in breast cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Clin Oncol 27, 1379–1385 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-022-02207-8

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