Diffusion and perfusion: the keys to fat grafting

Khouri, R. et als.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open, September 2014 – Volume 2 – Issue 9 – p e220

Fat grafting is now widely used in plastic surgery. Long-term graft retention can be unpredictable. Fat grafts must obtain oxygen via diffusion until neovascularization occurs, so oxygen delivery may be the overarching variable in graft retention.
We studied the peer-reviewed literature to determine which aspects of a fat graft and the microenvironment surrounding a fat graft affect oxygen delivery and created 3 models relating distinct variables to oxygen delivery and graft retention.