Autologous fat injection to face and neck: from soft tissue augmentation to regenerative medicine.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Minimally-invasive autologous fat injection of the head and neck region can be considered a valid alternative to major invasive surgical procedures both for aesthetic and functional purposes. The favourable outcomes of autologous fat injection in otolaryngological practice are due to the filling of soft tissue and, mainly, to the potential regenerative effect of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Herewith, some important biological preliminary remarks are described underlying the potential of autologous fat injection in regenerative medicine, and personal experience in using it for both consolidated clinical applications, such as fat grafting to the face and vocal fold augmentation in the treatment of glottic incompetence, and more recent applications including the treatment of post-parotidectomy Frey syndrome and velopharyngeal insufficiency. L'iniezione di grasso autologo del distretto testa e collo costituisce un trattamento mini-invasivo che può essere considerato una valida alternativa ad alcune procedure chirurgiche maggiori, sia per finalità estetiche che funzionali. L'efficacia dell'iniezione di grasso autologo nel trattamento di alcune patologie d'interesse otorinolaringoiatrico è dovuto, principalmente, al potenziale effetto rigenerativo intrinseco, ascrivibile alle cellule staminali adiposo-derivate. Nel presente lavoro verranno descritte le importanti premesse

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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