The effects of different harvesting techniques, adrenaline, and centrifuge on the survival of fat grafts

Abstract

The effects of different harvesting techniques, local adrenaline infiltration, and centrifuge on fat graft survival and stability were studied. Twenty-four adult female Guinea pigs weighing 580–700 g were divided into three groups (groups A, B, and C), each with eight subjects. Fat grafts were harvested from the back of the animals. The left side was used for simple excision and the right for liposuction in harvesting the grafts; they were named subgroups 1 and 2, respectively. Group A was the control group. In group B, the grafts were incubated in 1/100,000 adrenaline solution for 15 min. In group C, they were centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 3 min before placing them in the abdominal area of the same subjects. Again, the left side was used for placement of excised material and the right one for lipoaspirate. At the third postoperative month, all subjects were reoperated on to remove the grafts, and the extracted material was studied macroscopically and histopathologically. In the groups where liposuction was utilized for graft harvest, the graft resorption ratios and volume loss have been significantly increased. Adrenaline infiltration had no effect, either macroscopically or histopathologically. Although the centrifuge did not seem to have a significant effect macroscopically, the histopathologic study revealed its significant negative effects on grafts harvested by simple excision.