This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (7)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Nutritional and Metabolic Disorders  • Lipids and Lipid Disorders  • Transplantation, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Neil S. Sadick, MD; Lisa C. Hudgins, MD

Arch Dermatol. 2001;137:723-727.

Objective  To determine whether autologously transferred human adipose tissue maintains viability in vivo for prolonged periods.

Design  Six healthy female patients (mean age, 61.5 years; mean body mass index, 23.4 kg/m²) received autologous fat transplants from the gluteus to the nasolabial folds. Subcutaneous fat was sampled from facial and gluteal sites 4 times in 1 year.

Setting  Private practice, basic science research center.

Intervention  After local anesthesia, 10 g of subcutaneous adipose tissue was harvested from the right buttock of each patient. Ten milligrams of adipose tissue was aspirated from the right nasolabial fold. Five grams of gluteal fat was then injected into each nasolabial fold using a uniform monolayer threading technique with no overcorrection. As controls, 10 mg of adipose tissue was obtained from the opposite left buttock and left cheek. Adipose tissue from the transplanted and control facial and gluteal sites was sampled at 4, 6, and 12 months after transplantation.

Main Outcome Measurements  Gluteal fat has more monounsaturated fatty acids and less saturated fatty acids than facial fat. This unique site-specific fatty acid pattern was used to assess the course of the survival of transplanted adipose tissue in the nasolabial region. In all fat samples, the percent area (weight percentage) was obtained for each fatty acid (C_12:0 to C_{22:6 -3}) using capillary gas chromatography. Clinical results were also analyzed by macrophotographs.

Results  As expected, gluteal fat had significantly more monounsaturated fatty acids and less saturated fatty acids than facial fat. In 5 of 6 patients, at 4, 6, and 12 months after transplantation, the fatty acid pattern at the transplanted recipient site was similar to the pattern of the control facial site. However, at 4 months, 1 patient had a fatty acid pattern in the transplant recipient site that was similar to the pattern of her gluteal fat. This pattern persisted for 1 year. Fat retention at the transplant site was corroborated by photographic assessment.

Conclusions  Long-term adipocyte survival is an achievable goal following fat transfer. The importance of harvesting and injection techniques as well as adipose tissue characteristics require further study.

From the Department of Dermatology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University (Dr Sadick), and The Rogosin Institute, The Rockefeller University (Dr Hudgins), New York, NY.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Autologous Fat Transplantation
Michael S. Kaminer and Nayomi E. Omura
Arch Dermatol. 2001;137(6):812-814.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Autologous Fat Grafting: Long-term Evidence of Its Efficacy in Midfacial Rejuvenation
Meier et al.
Arch Facial Plast Surg 2009;11:24-28.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

In Search of Living Frozen Adipocytes?
Klein et al.
Arch Dermatol 2002;138:411-412.
FULL TEXT  

Autologous Fat Transplantation
Kaminer and Omura
Arch Dermatol 2001;137:812-814.
FULL TEXT