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

Abstract

Background: Chronic ulcers have many bad impacts andare becoming an economic burden. Nanofat is rich origin offatty-derived stem cells and different precursor cells. Thiswork aimed to assess efficacy of nanofat injection in chroniculcers and evaluating its effect on the healing process.Objective: Evaluation of the efficacy of non-fat graft injectionin the healing process of chronic ulcers.Methods: This prospective randomized controlled studywas carried out on 20 patients of both sexes aged between 18 -60 years old with no co-morbidities. We included patients withchronic upper or lower extremity post-traumatic ulcers of 5cmmaximum diameter with no healing on conventional dressingfor at least 3 months. Patients were randomly divided into twoequal groups: Group A (study group) was scheduled for nanofatinjection and Group B (control group) with conventionaldressing with no plan for surgical intervention.Results: Vascularity, pigmentation, pliability and heightwere significantly improved in group A than group B. Timeframe for complete healing was significantly delayed in group < br />B than that of group A (median time for complete healing was16.5 weeks and 3 weeks respectively). Patient satisfactionwas significantly increased in group A than in group B. Skinbiopsies showed that the epidermal thickness, dermal area %of collagen bundles and elastic fibres and the number of epidermaland dermal proliferating cell nuclei were significantlyincreased while the inflammatory cell count was markedly decreasedin group A compared to ulcers of group B.Conclusions: Nanofat grafting may be a promising treatmentoption for patients with traumatic ulcers, as it can improvewound healing outcomes and patient satisfaction