Breast Surgery at the Forefront of Regenerative Medicine

Wired Magazine published a long and interesting article last week documenting the progress of Cytori Therapeutics as they develop methods for breast surgery using “adipose-derived stem cell fat grafting.”

If their technique is successful, surgeons could use fat grafts and stem cells taken from adipose tissue to perform breast augmentation using the patients natural tissue – not an implant. At least that’s the hypothesis behind much of Cytori’s research and development of the Celution system.

How does it work? The fat cells increase breast volume while the regenerative cells within the mixture encourage growth of the blood supply, allowing the fat graft to survive.

But “breasts are just the beginning,” says the article. The technology has potential in many other regenerative therapies for different organs. And the stem cells are readily available in body fat, the same fat that’s typically removed during liposuction.

According to Wired, “regulators in Europe and Japan were satisfied with the animal and human studies Cytori submitted for approval of the Celution machine, “ but the US FDA has not yet given approval for the device.