Negative pressure of manual liposuction with Coleman technique is highly dependant on the position of plunger of the syringe

Autologous fat transplantation has gained wide recognition and adoption. Despite an ever-increasing degree of standardization, many techniques have been advocated and individual factors likely still play a significant role in the success of this operative technique. It is generally felt that reduced negative pressure during harvesting adipose tissue leads to a higher grade of graft viability. Studies have in fact demonstrated the superior viability of adipose tissue harvested with reduced pressure as compared to conventional suction assisted liposuction. A negative pressure of 760 mmHg has been shown to provoke an adipocyte injury rate of 90%. The Coleman technique advises using gentle manual syringe liposuction. According to Boyle’s law, negative pressure inside the barrel of the syringe increases as the volume is enlarged by drawing back on the plunger. The pressure gradient inside the cannula tip will similarly further increase as the plunger is withdrawn. From a practical perspective we were interested in quantifying the exact negative pressure inside the syringe at different positions of the plunger. We analysed negative pressure readings at various plunger positions using standard sterile 10 cc BD Luer Lock syringes (Byron medical, Mentor, Santa Barbara, CA, USA) and a manual manometer (VDO, Regensburg, Germany).