Adipose tissue stromal vascular fraction in facial surgery
Adipose tissue stromal vascular fraction in facial surgery
Fat grafting is the surgical technique of transplantation of adipose tissue to restore volume loss in patients due to oncological resections, congenital abnormalities, lipoatrophy, aging or trauma. Adipose tissue is harvested from the abdomen, inner knee or thigh by liposuction and can then be injected to an acceptor site such as the face.
Adipose tissue does not only consist of adipocytes, but also consists of a heterogenous mesenchymal cell population called stromal vascular fraction cells that are embedded in the extracellular matrix. This tissue-like stromal vascular fraction (tSVF), which is embedded in its native extracellular matrix is researched because of its pro-regenerative properties. In vitro research has shown pro-angiogenic and immunomodulatory effects of SVF and therefore translation into various clinical applications is investigated at this moment. The aim of our research was to investigate the methods to obtain tSVF, the in vitro properties, and the clinical efficacy of tSVF in various clinical applications infacial surgery.
SVF has regenerative properties that may be beneficial for various clinical applications. In this dissertation, we found that the addition of SVF does not improve volume retention or patient satisfaction after lipofilling.