Abstract
Autologous fat grafting has now been extensively and successfully performed for more than two decades. Although most adipose grafts and adipose-derived MSC therapies are done with fresh tissue, cryopreservation of tissue allows for much greater flexibility of use. Over the course of five years, 194 cryopreserved adipose samples were thawed and then returned to the collecting physician for subsequent autologous applications. Samples were stored with a mean cryogenic storage time of 9.5 months, with some samples being stored as long as 44 months. The volumes of tissue stored varied from 12 cc to as large as 960 cc. Upon thawing, the volume of recovered whole adipose tissue averaged 67% of the original amount stored for all samples, while the samples that were stored for longer than one year averaged 71%. Recovery was not found to be a function of length of time in cryopreservation. No significant relationship was found between tissue recovery and patient age. While an average recovery of 67% of volume frozen indicates that the use of banked and thawed tissue requires a larger amount of sample to be taken from the patient initially, an experienced clinician easily accomplishes this requirement. As cryopreservation of adipose tissue becomes more commonplace, physicians will find it helpful to know the amount and quality of tissue that will be available after thawing procedures.
Highlights
Uses for autologous fat from lipoaspirate have greatly increased over the years
Patients that require more than one treatment over timeframes longer than one day often need a separate harvest of lipoaspirate material for these multi-faceted interventions
One method to alleviate this issue is the simple cryopreservation of adipose tissue
Summary
Uses for autologous fat from lipoaspirate have greatly increased over the years. Autologous fat grafting is commonplace for reconstructive, cosmetic, and regenerative medicine applications [1,2,3]. Without the need for additional adipose harvests the patient enjoys reduced morbidity, discomfort, and cost, while the treating physician has more flexibility over the course of treatments and potentially greater overall efficiency of clinical operations. The adipose tissue that was collected from a single harvest can be cryopreserved into multiple aliquots of varied sizes This approach reduces cost to the patient, and patient discomfort, morbidity, and possible complications. Cryopreservation of a large amount of tissue allows the medical professional to sample a large store of tissue whenever additional adipose tissue is needed [11] This approach obviates the need for additional patient harvests with their associated cost and trauma. To aid the clinician in determining the amount of adipose tissue that should be harvested for cryopreservation, this study analyzes the recovery yields supporting the utility of cryopreserved adipose tissue for future clinical use
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