On the role of lipofilling technique in diabetic patients with primary breast cancer: the lack of studies in the literature

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) and diabetes are both a very common pathology in women, involving a large number of patients with a great impact on public health. To date, we know there is a strong linkage of these two different pathologies, for example in metabolic pathways, which may influence the choices of treatment. Studies have shown that BC in women with diabetes is often diagnosed in advanced stage compared with woman without diabetes and has a higher overall mortality following BC diagnosis (30-60%). This is a review of the English literature using the PubMed database that shows a lack of studies and knowledge about the consequences of this procedure in diabetic patients. Lipofilling in breast surgery is a safe technique with low morbidity and some advantages in condition of peripheric vasculopathy similar to diabetes such as local radiotherapy; however, there may be an unpredictable graft resorption, which ranges from 25%-80%, probably as result of ischemia and lack of neoangiogenesis. Despite the increased use of lipofilling in breast surgery, some queries remain, and both the high number of diagnoses of breast cancer and the increase of cases of diabetes will lead to consider dedicated surgical pathways. To answer this query, prospective studies are needed.