The Effect of Pressure and Shear on Autologous Fat Grafting

Abstract

Higher aspiration pressures up to -0.83 atm did not affect fat graft viability in vivo. Positive pressure up to 6 atm also did not affect fat graft viability. The degree of shear stress, which is a function of flow rate, did significantly affect fat graft viability. Fat grafts injected slowly with low shear stress significantly outperformed fat injected with high shear stress. These data suggest that shear stress is a more important variable regarding fat graft viability than pressure.