The use of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells in both basic research and a clinical trial have significantly increased during the last decade due to a variety of newly suggested therapeutic indications, including treatment of facial ageing, chronic wound healing, improvement of the radiation damage and hypertrophic scars, breast augmentation or breast reconstruction, as well as treatment of inflammatory and degenerative orthopaedic conditions.

As in one of the previous articles, Rozina Ali, a top-rated plastic surgeon in UK, has presented us with an overview of the meaning of SVF cells, as well as the procedure and the situations where SVF can be applied.

In this article, we asked her what are the most important benefits of the SVF treatment. Let’s see her response.

Wound healing

SVF and ADSCs have been shown to improve skin healing in animal models. The addition of SVF increased local vascularisation and fibroblast activity. When applied to hypertrophic scars, SVF significantly diminished the production of collagen and blunted the inflammatory response. These effects were first demonstrated in animal models then used to correct facial scars due to burns or trauma. SVF therapy improved not only cosmesis but also skin trophic and scar tissue pain. In another study, the injection of autologous fat into painful scars provided substantial pain relief and improved functional scores.

The use of adipose tissue to treat impaired wound healing and scar tissue pain may constitute an alternative to scar tissue excision.

VOLUME reconstruction

Recent developments in adipose-derived stromal/stem cell (ADSC) biology provide new hopes for tissue engineering and regeneration medicine. Cell-assisted lipotransfer (CAL) based on ADSCs has emerged as a promising cell therapy technology and significantly improved fat graft retention. Initially applied for cosmetic breast enhancement and facial enhancement, CAL has found a potential use for breast reconstruction in breast cancer patients. It also improves overlying skin, radiotherapy damage as well as serial volume enhancement with natural tissue that feels soft and moves naturally.

Rejuvenation of facial skin

SVF treatments are also applied for aesthetic reasons: to treat skin conditions (for eliminating skin irregularities, burns, etc.) and for anti-ageing reasons. When this stem cell treatment is injected into problematic sites, it can restore the damaged tissue functions, reduce pain.

Scientific studies have shown that SVF stem cells stimulate the body’s own long-term capacity to restore damaged, wrinkled skin or skin with lost elasticity without causing side effects. Adipose tissue SVF stem cells activate skin cells (fibroblasts and keratinocytes), which promote skin’s regeneration and healing of the treated area.

A tremendous clinical need exists for the development of technologies to facilitate the regeneration of injured or diseased tissues. The unrelenting prevalence of trauma, congenital defects, and diseases drive the demand. A wide variety of tissues would benefit from engineering-based repair or regeneration, such as musculoskeletal tissues, bone, cartilage and soft tissues, including subcutaneous fat and skin. The field of tissue engineering is at the interface between bioengineering, materials science, biology, medicine, and surgery poised to meet these unmet clinical needs through the development of new technologies and refinement of existing ones.

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