Stem cells boost breast reconstructive surgery

Jun 18

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Technorati Tags: breast reconstructive surgery, stem cells

This can be real dreadful. During a breast cancer surgical procedure, part of the breast is removed in keyhole surgery – called partial mastectomy. Followed by radiation treatment, the process is crucial nonetheless effective method in treating breast cancer. Cure as it may, it often results in significant skin damage and tissue loss, something that can be very discomforting for the rest of a cancer survivor’s life.

In February last year, Jeremy Mao of the University of Illinois, in Chicago took human stem cells and successfully implanted the tissue into mice with an immune deficiency to prevent them from rejecting the breast implants. It was observed that the implants had maintained their size and shape after four weeks.

Mao then suggested that the technique could be used to develop more suitable tissue for reconstructive surgery as well as cosmetic augmentation. He went one prediction ‘wilder’ by saying that “silicone breast implants could be replaced by tissue grown from a person's own stem cells within a decade.”

A decade is now. The attempts of cosmetic surgeons to improve reconstruction of a patient’s breast after a surgery just got further enhancement – so to speak, by the use of stem cells. Regenerative cells potentially offer breast cancer patients the option to use their own cells to restore a natural breast contour following surgery. This advancement in cosmetic surgery will obviate the need for an implant or complicated surgical procedure.

Late last month three women, after undergoing breast cancer surgery, received implants of stem cells derived from their own fat (adipose) tissues. The procedure allows the growth of new tissue to reconstruct their breasts. Adipose tissue is a rich source for stem cells and other regenerative cells that are believed to contribute to repair and healing. The stem cells create new blood vessels to help adipose implanted at the same time to survive.

The successful operations are part of the trial on 20 women being conducted by a team led by Dr Keizo Sugimachi, president of Kyushu Central Hospital in Fukuoka Japan, in alliance with the American company Cytori Therapeutics, which developed the “celution system” method used in the study.

The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the safety of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells. It will take six months for the stem cell to reconstruct and for the team to gauge the result of the study.

The surgical procedure used a glorified version of liposuction devising the “celution system”. The surgeons extracted and concentrated a stem cell-enriched fraction and injected it into the affected breast after fat had been implanted to replace the cancerous tissue. The team believes that the effect of the celution output is safe and may improve the appearance of the breast after cancer surgery.

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