In the August 2013 study published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal there was a study looking at fat transfer. They looked at how to collect the fat, how to process the fat, and then compared fat survival.
In their article they said they found other interesting findings which they did not publish. But published or nonpublished, anything which can help us improve fat grafting and fat transfer- sign me up!
They found there was a difference bewteen the fat survival in the two patients they used. One had an average of 75% fat survival (very good), the other 58% (close to average.)
Can you predict who will be whom?
Their unpublished work from their lab indicates fat from different patients can differ significantly in:
- fat stem cell content
- fat derived stem cell proliferative capacity (can stem cells grow?)
- fat differentiation capacity
- ability to secrete angiogenic growth factors (releasing stuff which causes blood vessels to form, which is critical to get the fat to survive.)
They are also looking at studies on effects of
- age
- sex
- BMI
This is the stuff I like to see. I want to be able to advise my patients well. I know from a study done on diabetic mice that fat transfer is not a good option. (see my prior blog on the study.) Keep the science coming. I can’t wait to see what they find and publish.