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A Study to Evaluate the Results of Facial Soft Tissue Reconstruction in Patients Who Have Suffered Traumatic Injury

Structural Fat Grafting for Craniofacial Trauma

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01345591
Acronym
BTI
Enrollment
20
Registered
2011-05-02
Start date
2009-09-30
Completion date
2014-08-31
Last updated
2017-07-11

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Adipose Tissue, Facial Injuries

Keywords

BTI, Craniomaxillofacial (CMF) Battle-injured (BI), Facial Trauma, Fat Grafts, Autogenous Fat Transfers (AFT), Wounded warriors

Brief summary

Injuries resulting in facial trauma are common, and can have devastating consequences on your quality of life. While the facial bones can often be reconstructed, physicians strive to find better ways to accurately restore injured facial features. In this clinical trial funded by the Department of Defense, the investigators are evaluating how effectively fat grafting can restore facial features, and how the filling effect of the fat graft lasts over time in participants with visible facial injuries. All procedures for this research study will be performed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Detailed description

The purpose of this research is to evaluate how well the filling effect of the fat remains over time. A person's own fat may be used to improve the appearance of the body by moving it from an area where it is less needed. This is called fat grafting, and it is a common procedure, performed approximately 65,000 times by plastic surgeons in the United State last year. The fat is usually taken from the thighs or abdomen with a small liposuction tube and then moved to an area that has lost volume or fullness due to aging, trauma, surgery, birth defects, or other causes. Typically, the transferred fat results in an increase in volume of the body site being treated. Fat grafting is a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which a person's own fat may be used to improve the appearance of the body by moving it from an area where it is less needed. The fat is usually taken from the thighs or abdomen with a small liposuction tube and then moved to an area that has lost shape or fullness due to injury. This procedure is performed through very small incisions that allow a hollow tube to pass through. Fat grafting is a common cosmetic and reconstructive procedure. It was performed approximately 65,000 times by plastic surgeons in the United States last year. Typically, the transferred fat results in an increase in volume and shape of the body site being treated. The investigators believe this clinical technique of fat grafting could be of significant benefit to patients with facial injuries. The fat grafting procedure being performed in this trial is considered to be research, but not an experimental procedure.

Interventions

PROCEDUREFat Grafting

Sponsors

United States Department of Defense
CollaboratorFED
University of Pittsburgh
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Aged 18 years or older and able to provide informed consent 2. Have suffered injury resulting in craniofacial volume defects which could be treated with a graft volume of between 5 and 150 cc of lipoaspirate 3. Be at least 3 months post-injury or post-surgery (from trauma procedures) so that acute edema is resolved 4. Volume defects are covered by intact skin and do not communicate with oral cavity or sinuses 5. The three dimensional geometry of the volume defects would allow for treatment with lipoaspirate injection that in a manner that at least two distinct treated areas could be discerned on gross examination and radiographically (e.g. treated regions are on opposite sides of the face, on lower face versus upper face, or separated by a bony landmark such as zygoma. This would include the ability to treat an uninjured contralateral region with lipoaspirate in order to obtain symmetry. 6. Willing and able to comply with follow up examinations, including radiographic studies -

Exclusion criteria

1. Age less than 18 years 2. Inability to provide informed consent 3. Craniofacial defects intended for treatment have open wounds or communicate with oral cavity or sinus (note: presence of such a defect in the setting of another defect(s) that meets treatment criteria will not exclude the patient from participating). 4. Active infection anywhere in the body 5. Diagnosed with cancer within the last 12 months and /or presently receiving chemotherapy or radiation treatment 6. Known coagulopathy 7. Pregnancy -

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Volume3 months and 9 months post op.fat graft volume

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
SWAP, COPE and CSQ-8as assessed at baseline, 7-21 days, 3 months and 9 months post op.three questionnaires were evaluated: 1) SWAP (satisfaction with appearance scale) is a psychological test for personality diagnosis and clinical case formulation; 14 questions are asked on a scale of 0-7 where 7 indicates descriptive of the subjects and 0 is irrelevant to the subject for a total score range of 0-98. 2) COPE scale assesses a broad range of coping responses over 28 questions scaled from 1-4 with a total score range of 28-112 where the higher score indicates higher frequency of coping mechanisms used by the subject. 3) CSQ-8 assesses patient satisfaction with the treatment through 8 questions ranked 1-4 on a total scale from 8-32 where higher scores indicate greater satisfaction.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Fat Grafting
Fat Grafting for facial trauma
20
Total20

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000
Overall StudyLost to Follow-up1

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicFat Grafting
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
20 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
8 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
12 Participants
tissue thickness0.352 milliliters
STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.18
volume1.0 milliliters
STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.0001

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
— / —
other
Total, other adverse events
20 / 20
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 20

Outcome results

Primary

Volume

fat graft volume

Time frame: 3 months and 9 months post op.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Fat Graft Volume at 3 MonthsVolume0.576 millilitersStandard Deviation 0.188
Fat Graft Volume at 9 MonthsVolume0.621 millilitersStandard Deviation 0.191
Secondary

SWAP, COPE and CSQ-8

three questionnaires were evaluated: 1) SWAP (satisfaction with appearance scale) is a psychological test for personality diagnosis and clinical case formulation; 14 questions are asked on a scale of 0-7 where 7 indicates descriptive of the subjects and 0 is irrelevant to the subject for a total score range of 0-98. 2) COPE scale assesses a broad range of coping responses over 28 questions scaled from 1-4 with a total score range of 28-112 where the higher score indicates higher frequency of coping mechanisms used by the subject. 3) CSQ-8 assesses patient satisfaction with the treatment through 8 questions ranked 1-4 on a total scale from 8-32 where higher scores indicate greater satisfaction.

Time frame: as assessed at baseline, 7-21 days, 3 months and 9 months post op.

ArmMeasureGroupValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Fat Graft Volume at 3 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8SWAP59.7 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 11.1
Fat Graft Volume at 3 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8CSQ-827.0 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.9
Fat Graft Volume at 3 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8COPE57.1 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 8.5
Fat Graft Volume at 9 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8SWAP57.8 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 7
Fat Graft Volume at 9 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8CSQ-830.9 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.4
Fat Graft Volume at 9 MonthsSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8COPE56.8 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 13.1
Fat Grafting_3 Months Post opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8COPE54.4 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 13.5
Fat Grafting_3 Months Post opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8SWAP57.9 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 8.3
Fat Grafting_3 Months Post opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8CSQ-831.3 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.2
Fat Grafting_9 Months Post-opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8SWAP56.3 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 6.3
Fat Grafting_9 Months Post-opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8CSQ-830.7 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.4
Fat Grafting_9 Months Post-opSWAP, COPE and CSQ-8COPE55.1 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 7.7

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026