Comparison of fat tissues used in intracordal autologous fat injection.
CONCLUSIONS
The buccal fat pad appears to be more useful as a source of fat tissues in intracordal fat injection than the abdominal fat tissues used previously. However, further studies are required to confirm this point.


OBJECTIVE
Fat tissues used in vocal fold augmentation surgery have primarily been harvested from the subcutaneous region of the lower abdomen. It is often difficult to obtain sufficient fat tissue for injection due to the physical features of the individual patient. We have thus adopted a method using fat tissue from the buccal fat pad, which is already used in other plastic surgeries.


METHODS
This was a retrospective study. We evaluated and compared the histological characteristics of fat cells and the condition of vocal folds after injection of fat tissue extracted from the subcutaneous region of the lower abdomen and from the buccal fat pad.


RESULTS
Buccal fat cells were relatively smaller than abdominal fat cells and were not influenced by body mass index (BMI), showing less individual differences according to the physical features of the patient. Numbers of vascular endothelial cells tended to be higher in buccal fat tissues. The percentage of cases showing continuous effects for more than 6 months was slightly higher in cases using buccal fat.
Tamura
Etsuyo
E
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, Tokyo. otamura@hachioji-hosp.tokai.ac.jp
Okada
Shinya
S
Shibuya
Masato
M
Iida
Masahiro
M
D017667:Adipocytes / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D048429:Cell Size; D002610:Cheek; D002648:Child; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D050151:Subcutaneous Fat / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D050507:Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation; D014826:Vocal Cord Paralysis / Q000601:surgery*; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000601:surgery; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult