Autologous fat tissue injection improve the quality of skin grafts: A Novel Therapeutic measurement for wound lesion

Abstract

Abstract Background and objective Autologous fat tissue transplantation is becoming rapidly popular in the field of research and therapy. Because adipose tissue contains adipose derived stem cells, clinical improvements in many fields after autologous fat graft are well described in literature. In this paper, we present our observation of autologous fat graft experience in improving the quality of skin grafts including both aesthetic appearance and function. Materials and methods 21 patients recruited were given surgical operation of skin graft. After skin graft survived, we performed fat tissue injection with Coleman technique into skin grafts. In all skin grafts, clinical assessment for aesthetic appearance and hardness of skin grafts was performed using Patient and Observer Skin Graft Assessment Scale (POSGAS) and durometer measurements, respectively. Results In all the skin grafts that got fat tissue injection, a qualitative improvement was shown from an aesthetic appearance; most importantly, skin grafts’ elasticity were objectively improved. According to the data of durometer and POSGAS score, autologous fat tissue injection showed statistically significant reduction in hardness in comparison with the control. POSGAS scores showed a statistically significant reduction of a great deal of POSGAS parameters as a result of an improvement of both clinical evaluation and patient perception. Conclusions Injection of autologous fat seems to be a promising and effective therapeutic approach for the improvement of aesthetic appearance and function of skin grafts; which could make both surgeons and patients obtain more satisfactory rate in surgical operation of skin grafts.