Fat Grafting Versus Adipose-Derived Stem Cell Therapy: Distinguishing Indications, Techniques, and Outcomes

With adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) at the forefront of research and potential clinical applications, it is important that clinicians be able to distinguish them from the fat grafting currently used clinically and to understand how the two approaches relate to one another. At times, there has bee...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aesthetic plastic surgery 2012-06, Vol.36 (3), p.704-713
Main Authors: Tabit, Christina J., Slack, Ginger C., Fan, Kenneth, Wan, Derrick C., Bradley, James P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipose Tissue - cytology
Adipose Tissue - transplantation
Humans
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Otorhinolaryngology
Plastic Surgery
Review
Stem Cell Transplantation - methods
Tissue Engineering - methods
Tissue Transplantation - methods
Treatment Outcome
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Summary:With adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) at the forefront of research and potential clinical applications, it is important that clinicians be able to distinguish them from the fat grafting currently used clinically and to understand how the two approaches relate to one another. At times, there has been confusion in clinically considering the two therapies to be the same. This report is aimed at distinguishing clearly between fat grafting and ASC therapy with regard to the indications, harvesting, processing, application techniques, outcomes, and complications. Findings have shown that autologous fat transfer, a widely used procedure for soft tissue augmentation, is beneficial for reconstructive and cosmetic procedures used to treat patients with volume loss due to disease, trauma, congenital defects, or the natural process of aging. On the other hand, ASCs have been identified as an ideal source of cells for regenerative medicine, with the potential to serve as soft tissue therapy for irradiated, scarred, or chronic wounds. Recent advances in tissue engineering suggest that the supplementation of fat grafts with ASCs isolated in the stromal vascular fraction may increase the longevity and quality of the fat graft. Research suggests that ASC supplementation may be a great clinical tool in the future, but more data should be acquired before clinical applications.
ISSN:0364-216X
1432-5241
DOI:10.1007/s00266-011-9835-4