PRP in autologous fat transplantation

Autologous fat transplantation is a popular technique for breast augmentation and facial filling because it is taken from the body, has no immune rejection, has small incisions, and has the therapeutic effect of slimming. However, because the fat cells are damaged by blood circulation after suction and a series of treatment, the fat cells that cannot survive after transplantation will be rapidly apoptotic and absorbed, and long-term clinical observation shows that the survival rate of fat after transplantation is between 10% and 80%, and 90% of people need to be transplanted again, therefore, how to improve the survival rate after fat transplantation is an urgent problem for plastic surgeons. Platelets, which play an important role in our blood coagulation process, can release a large number of growth factors after activation, such as PDGF, VEGF, TGF, EGF, FGF, etc. These growth factors have the function of promoting cell mitosis, inducing cell differentiation, proliferation and matrix synthesis, which can effectively accelerate the vascularization of body tissues and accelerate wound healing. It is by taking advantage of this that Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP), which is a highly concentrated platelet plasma obtained by extracting autologous blood and separating and concentrating it through a centrifuge, has been developed. Since PRP is derived from autologous blood, it fundamentally solves and avoids the disadvantages of immune rejection, disease transmission and high price that may be caused by exogenous recombinant growth factors. In addition, PRP contains multiple growth factors in high concentrations, and the ratio of each growth factor is similar to the normal ratio in the body, which can play a synergistic role through the regulatory network of multiple factors, which to a certain extent makes up for the therapeutic defects of single growth factor. PRP can effectively promote wound healing, osteogenesis and soft tissue repair and accelerate bone healing, and was first used in nerve injury, refractory wounds, osteoarthritis, etc. In recent years, PRP is also increasingly used in cosmetic surgery because of its powerful pro-tissue vascularization effect. The combination of PRP and autologous fat transplantation is precisely the use of the high concentration of growth factors released by platelets in PRP, which can promote rapid capillary renewal in the recipient area and provide more nutrients to the transplanted fat cells better and faster, so that the number of apoptotic fat cells is reduced and the regeneration of fat stem cells is accelerated, and the survival rate of fat transplantation is naturally improved.