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Fat Used To Repair Breasts After Cancer Surgery

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By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, The Associated Press

Published: December 16, 2007

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - For the first time, doctors have used stem cells from liposuctioned fat to fix breast defects in women who have had cancerous lumps removed.

The approach is still experimental but holds promise for millions of women left with cratered areas and breasts that look very different from each other after cancer surgery. It also might be a way to augment healthy breasts without using artificial implants.

So far, it has only been tested on about two dozen women in a study in Japan. U.S. doctors, however, say it has great potential.

"This is a pretty exciting topic right now in plastic surgery," said Karol Gutowski, a physician with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Japanese study was reported Saturday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The company that developed the treatment, San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics, plans larger studies in Europe and Japan next year.

More than 100,000 women have lumps removed each year in the United States. These operations, lumpectomies, often are done instead of mastectomies, which take the whole breast. They often leave deformities, however, because as much as a third of a woman's breast may be removed.

The implants sold today are for reconstructing breasts after mastectomies. They are not designed to fix odd-shaped deformities from lumpectomies or radiation.

Doctors can try making the other breast smaller so they match, transplanting a back muscle to boost the flawed breast, or rearranging tissue to more evenly distribute what's left. These involve surgery, however, and leave scars.

Mini implants of fat tissue have been tried, but they often get resorbed by the body or die and turn hard and lumpy. The recent discovery that fat cells are rich in stem cells - master cells that can replenish themselves and form other tissues in the body - renewed interest in their use.

Eight months after treatment, "about 80 percent of the patients are satisfied" with the results, said the lead researcher, Keizo Sugimachi of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says doctors must be cautious about using fat cells for cosmetic purposes until more is known.

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