Autologous Fat Grafting in the Treatment of Painful Postsurgical Scar of the Oral Mucosa

Background. Persistent pain as a consequence of surgical treatment has been reported for several common surgical procedures and represents a clinical problem of great magnitude. Material and Methods. We describe the case of a 47-year-old female who presented a retractile scar that adhered to deep planes at the upper right of the vestibule due to surgical removal of maxillary exostosis, which determined important pain symptoms extending till the right shoulder during both chewing and rest. We subsequently treated her with autologous fat grafting according to Coleman’s technique. Results. Clinical assessments were performed at 5 and 14 days, 1, 3, and 6 months, and 1 year after surgical procedure. We observed a progressive release of scar retraction together with an important improvement of pain symptoms. Conclusion. The case described widens the possible application of autologous fat grafting on a new anatomical site as buccal vestibule and in one specific clinical setting confirming its promising biological effects

Autologous fat grafting efficacy in treating PostMastectomy pain syndrome: A prospective multicenter trial of two Senonetwork Italia breast centers.

Postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) represents a common complication following breast surgery defined as a chronic neuropathic pain located in the front of the chest, in the axilla and in the upper arm that for more than 3 months after surgery. Several medications prove to be ineffective while autologous fat grafting revealed to be an innovative solution in the treatment of neuropathic pain syndromes based on retrospective studies. For this reason, we performed a prospective multicenter trial to reduce the memory bias and further increase the evidence of the results. From February 2018 to March 2019, 37 female patients aged between 18 and 80 years, underwent mastectomy or quadrantectomy with pathologic scarring and chronic persistent neuropathic pain, compatible with PMPS, are been included in the study and treated with autologous fat grafting. During the enrollment phase, patients were asked to estimate pain using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and POSAS questionnaire in order to evaluate scar outcomes. The VAS scale, starting from 6.9 (1.3), decreased in the first month by 3.10 (1.59), continuing to fall by 0.83 (1.60) to 3 months and by 0.39 (2.09) at 6 months. Statistical analysis showed a significant reduction after 1 month (P < .0001) and 3 months (P < .005). All POSAS grades documented a statistically significant reduction (P < .0001) of the scores by both observers and patients. We observed that no significant association was found between age, BMI, menopausal status of patients, days from oncologic surgery to autologous fat grafting and reduction of VAS values over time while both smoking and axillary dissection were observed as the main factor significantly associated with a reduced clinical efficacy (respectively, P = .0227 and P = .0066). Our prospective multicenter trial confirms the efficacy of fat grafting in the treatment of PMPS based on the principle of regenerative medicine with a satisfactory response in terms of pain reduction and improvement of the quality of the treated tissues. Clinical questionnaires show that the cicatricial areas improve in terms of color, thickness, skin pliability, and surface irregularities. Regenerative effect is based also on the adoption of needles. The combined effect of fat grafting and needles determines a clinical full response

The Niguarda MEWS, a new and refined tool to determine criticality and instability in Internal Medicine Ward and Emergency Medicine Unit

This study compares the effect of the modified early warning score (MEWS) versus a new early warning system (Niguarda MEWS) for detecting instability and criticality in hospital medical departments. A retrospective observational study was conducted in the Internal Medicine ward of Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital in Milan between November 2013 and October 2014. MEWS and Niguarda-MEWS were gathered using: systolic blood pressure, respiratory frequency, heart rate, temperature, level of consciousness, oxygen saturation, creatinine level, hematocrit level and age. In order to determine if the patient was critical or not the MEWS criticality cut-off value chosen was 3, while in the Niguarda MEWS it was 6. The primary outcome was the correlation between the critical level of the two scores and in-hospital mortality. The secondary endpoint was the correlation between a specific disease and the two scores. In the study, 471 patients were included, using both the MEWS and the Niguarda MEWS score at admittance: 33.4% of patients turned out to be critically ill using the former, 40.98% when using the latter. Therefore, the specificity of scores was 70% for MEWS and 73% for Niguarda MEWS, the sensitivity 58% for MEWS and 63% for Niguarda MEWS, Niguarda MEWS area under the curve (AUC): 0.736, MEWS AUC: 0.670. For the secondary outcome, the new score is higher for genitourinary and respiratory diseases. Niguarda-MEWS could be an optimal tool to detect criticality and instability in order to address the patient to the right level of care

Autologous Fat Grafting Improves Facial Nerve Function

We describe the case of a 45-year-old male patient who presented a retractile and painful scar in the nasolabial fold due to trauma which determined partial motor impairment of the mouth movements. We subsequently treated him with autologous fat grafting according to Coleman’s technique. Clinical assessments were performed at 5 and 14 days and 1, 3, and 6 months after surgical procedure and we observed a progressive release of scar retraction together with an important improvement of pain symptoms. A second procedure was performed 6 months after the previous one. We observed total restoration of mimic movements within one-year follow-up. The case described confirms autologous fat grafting regenerative effect on scar tissue enlightening a possible therapeutic effect on peripheral nerve activity, hypothesizing that its entrapment into scar tissue can determine a partial loss of function

The Niguarda MEWS, a new and refined tool to determine criticality and instability in Internal Medicine Ward and Emergency Medicine Unit

This study compares the effect of the modified early warning score (MEWS) versus a new early warning system (Niguarda MEWS) for detecting instability and criticality in hospital medical departments. A retrospective observational study was conducted in the Internal Medicine ward of Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital in Milan between November 2013 and October 2014. MEWS and Niguarda-MEWS were gathered using: systolic blood pressure, respiratory frequency, heart rate, temperature, level of consciousness, oxygen saturation, creatinine level, hematocrit level and age. In order to determine if the patient was critical or not the MEWS criticality cut-off value chosen was 3, while in the Niguarda MEWS it was 6. The primary outcome was the correlation between the critical level of the two scores and in-hospital mortality. The secondary endpoint was the correlation between a specific disease and the two scores. In the study, 471 patients were included, using both the MEWS and the Niguarda MEWS score at admittance: 33.4% of patients turned out to be critically ill using the former, 40.98% when using the latter. Therefore, the specificity of scores was 70% for MEWS and 73% for Niguarda MEWS, the sensitivity 58% for MEWS and 63% for Niguarda MEWS, Niguarda MEWS area under the curve (AUC): 0.736, MEWS AUC: 0.670. For the secondary outcome, the new score is higher for genitourinary and respiratory diseases. Niguarda-MEWS could be an optimal tool to detect criticality and instability in order to address the patient to the right level of care

Study of Inflammatory and Infection Markers in Periprosthetic Fluid: Correlation with Blood Analysis in Retrospective and Prospective Studies

Background. Surgical site infection represents the most severe complication in prosthetic breast reconstruction. Risk profiling represents a useful tool for both clinicians and patients. Materials and Methods. In our hospital, 534 breast reconstructions with tissue expander implants, in 500 patients, were performed. Several clinical variables were collected. In our study, we evaluated the different inflammatory markers present in the periprosthetic fluid and we compared them with the ones present in plasma. Results. The surgical site infection rate resulted to be 10.5%, and reconstruction failed in 4.5% of the cases. The hazard ratio for complications was 2.3 in women over 60 (CI: 1.3-4.07; p=0.004), 2.57 in patients with expander volume≥500 cc (CI: 1.51-4.38; p<0.001), 2.14 in patients submitted to previous radiotherapy (CI: 1.05-4.36; p<0.037), and 1.05 in prolonged drain use (CI: 1.03-1.07; p<0.001). 25-OH, PCT, and total protein were less concentrated, and ferritin and LDH were more concentrated in the periprosthetic fluid than in plasma (p<0.001). CRP (p=0.190) and β-2 microglobulin (p=0.344) did not change in the two fluids analyzed. PCT initial value is higher in patients who underwent radiotherapy, and it could be related to the higher rate of their postoperative complications. Patients with a tissue expander with a volume≥500 cc show an increasing trend for CRP in time (p=0.009). Conclusions. Several risk factors (prolonged time of drains, age older than 60 years, and radiotherapy) have been confirmed by our study. The study of markers in the periprosthetic fluid with respect to their study in plasma could point toward earlier infection detection and support early management