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Brava(R) and Autologous Fat Transfer Is a Safe and Effective Breast Augmentation Alternative: Results of a Six-Year, Eighty-One Patients Prospective Multicenter Study
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 01/20/2012
Khouri RK et al. – The addition of Brava(R) expansion prior to autologous fat grafting leads to significantly larger breast augmentations, with more fat graft placement, higher graft survival rates, and minimal graft necrosis or complications, demonstrating high safety and efficacy for the procedure.
Methods- A prospective multicenter study enlisted 81 women (age 17–63).
- Patients wore Brava(R), a bra–like vacuum–based external tissue expander, for four weeks, then underwent autologous fat injection using 10 – 14 needle puncture sites into each breast in a 3D fanning pattern (average, 277 ml volume injected per breast).
- Patients resumed Brava(R) wear within 24 hours for 7 or more days.
- Pre– and post–treatment breast volumes were derived from 3D volumetric reconstruction of MRI scans, and outcomes were compared to a meta–analysis of 6 recent published reports on AFT breast augmentation without expansion.
- Follow–up ranged from 12 months to 6 years (average 3.7 years).
- Breast volume was unchanged between 3 and 6 months.
- Seventy–one of the treated women were compliant with Brava wear and had a mean augmentation volume at 12 months of 233 ml/breast compared to 134 ml/breast in published series without Brava (p<0.00001).
- Graft survival was 82 +/– 18% compared to 55 +/– 18% without Brava (p<0.00001).
- There was a strong linear correlation (R2 = 0.87) between pre–grafting Brava expansion and the resultant breast augmentation.
- There were no suspicious breast masses or nodules.
- MRI recognized a 16% incidence of fat necrosis easily identified at one–year mammographic evaluation.
