Clinical and Histological Efficacy of Nanofat Grafting in the Healing Process of Chronic Ulcers

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 The Departments of Plastic, Burn & Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University

2 The Departments of Histology & Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University

Abstract

Background: Chronic ulcers have many bad impacts and
are becoming an economic burden. Nanofat is rich origin of
fatty-derived stem cells and different precursor cells. This
work aimed to assess efficacy of nanofat injection in chronic
ulcers and evaluating its effect on the healing process.
Objective: Evaluation of the efficacy of non-fat graft injection
in the healing process of chronic ulcers.
Methods: This prospective randomized controlled study
was carried out on 20 patients of both sexes aged between 18 -
60 years old with no co-morbidities. We included patients with
chronic upper or lower extremity post-traumatic ulcers of 5cm
maximum diameter with no healing on conventional dressing
for at least 3 months. Patients were randomly divided into two
equal groups: Group A (study group) was scheduled for nanofat
injection and Group B (control group) with conventional
dressing with no plan for surgical intervention.
Results: Vascularity, pigmentation, pliability and height
were significantly improved in group A than group B. Time
frame for complete healing was significantly delayed in group < br />B than that of group A (median time for complete healing was
16.5 weeks and 3 weeks respectively). Patient satisfaction
was significantly increased in group A than in group B. Skin
biopsies showed that the epidermal thickness, dermal area %
of collagen bundles and elastic fibres and the number of epidermal
and dermal proliferating cell nuclei were significantly
increased while the inflammatory cell count was markedly decreased
in group A compared to ulcers of group B.
Conclusions: Nanofat grafting may be a promising treatment
option for patients with traumatic ulcers, as it can improve
wound healing outcomes and patient satisfaction

Main Subjects


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