The CD34+ Cell Number Alone Predicts Retention of the Human Fat-Graft Volume in a Nude Mouse Model.

Prediction of the final transferred fat volume is essential for the success of fat grafting, but remains elusive. Between 20 and 80 % of the initial transplanted volume can be reabsorbed. Although graft survival has many determinants, CD34+ progenitor cells from the vascular stroma of adipose tissue play a central role by promoting growth of blood vessels and adipocytes. We aimed to verify the hypothesis that a higher proportion of total CD34+ cells in the transplant is associated with better preservation of the graft volume. Human lipoaspirates from 16 patients were processed by centrifugation and two grafts per donor were subcutaneously injected into 32 nude mice in 1 ml volumes in the right upper flank area. The volume of each graft was measured using a preclinical MRI scanner immediately after grafting and at three months. The percentage of CD34+ cells in the graft before implantation was determined by flow cytometry. The final graft volume at three months after implantation directly correlated with the percentage of CD34+ cells in the grafted material (r = 0.637, P = 0.019). The minimum retention of the fat graft was 28 % and the maximum retention was 81 %, with an average of 54 %. Our study found that fat retention after fat transfer directly correlated with the fraction of CD34+ cells in the graft. The simple and fast determination of the CD34+ cell percentage on site can help predicting outcomes of fat transplantation.

PULMONARY EMBOLISM AFTER ABDOMINOPLASTY - ARE WE REALLY ABLE TO AVOID ALL COMPLICATIONS? CASE REPORTS AND LITERATURE REVIEW.

Pulmonary embolism is a potentially lethal complication in plastic surgery patients. About 34% of the members of American Society of Plastic Surgery have diagnosed pulmonary embolism in their patients, and 7% had experienced at least 1 death due to this complication. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons Executive Committee approved the Venous Thromboembolism Task Force Report. The members agreed that there was not enough evidence to make all-inclusive recommendations for plastic surgery deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism prophylaxis, but released the 2005 Caprini Scale accompanied by the Task Force recommendations for use in plastic surgery. It is generally strongly advised to use appropriate prophylactic measures against venous thromboembolism in all surgical procedures. However, even then we cannot completely avoid this serious complication.

PIP IMPLANTS--CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND LITERATURE REVIEW.

Non-compliance with the production process and use of non-certified materials du- ring production of PIP implants opened an extensive debate regarding regulation and control mechanisms during their production, but the question of health safety of breast implants in general was also reopened. Production of breast implants is subject to various control mechanisms in each country and it is necessary to unify and coordinate such mechanisms. PIP implants were on the market for more than 15 years and in this period the production process and used materials were being changed purposely and without control, which resulted in production of implants with poor quality capsule filled with non-certified silicon gel. There were around 600,000 of these erroneous implants produced. Despite demonstrable harmfulness of the PIP implants, the current studies were not able to reliably confirm health hazard of these implants. Financial costs together with the inability to demonstrate health risk of PIP implants is the reason why the question to widely replace these implants was not solved and each state has a different opinion on this issue.