Fate of liposuctioned and purified autologous fat injections in the canine vocal fold.

Injection of autologous fat obtained by liposuction has been reported as an augmentation technique for vocal fold paralysis. Unfortunately, it is not known whether this technique is associated with long-term graft survival. The purpose of this study, using a canine model, was to determine the volume of viable injected fat grafts when the tissue was harvested and processed by two different methods: 1. by liposuction alone, and 2. by "purification," i.e., excision of adipose tissue, followed by tissue homogenization and centrifugation in a buffering solution. The results of this study confirm that injected fat grafts survive long-term; however, the average volumetric "take" was only about 20%. Surprisingly, significantly more liposuctioned fat survived than grafts prepared by the purification method (P < .05). At 12 weeks, there was relatively little inflammation present in the tissues surrounding the injected fat, suggesting a stable fat graft volume.