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Researchers identify landmark papers on fat grafting

Using a Web of Science database search, researchers identified and analyzed the 100 most-cited papers in medical literature on fat grafting that have had the biggest impact on the field.

Eighteen international journals were chosen for the citation analysis based on an overall consensus by two of the authors. Research was included from 1945 to 2014, and individual studies were identified by searching the keywords  “fat,” “fat transplant,” “fat graft,” “lipotransfer,” “lipoaspirate,” “adipocyte” and “adipose stem cells.”

The article with the highest number of citations (363) was written by S.R. Coleman and published in 1997 in Clinics in Plastic. The articles was one of the first modern-day descriptions of lipofilling to the face using the Coleman method of fat-transfer, according to the researchers.

The researchers observed that 85% of the top articles had been published since 1990, demonstrating the recent surge in fat grafting. They also found the decade that contributed the most was the 2000s, with 53 articles from this time period included in the top-100 list.

A total of 21 articles focused on lipotransfer to the face, 20 articles examined fat grafting to the breast, 14 articles described fat transfer to contour the trunk and one article studied fat grafting to the hands.

The top-100 articles came from 18 different countries, with the U.S. contributing the highest number at 46 articles. Brazil produced eight articles, and Mexico, Japan and France published five each.

The second most-cited article was another by S.R. Coleman. Cited more than 258 times, the article retrospectively examined more than 400 fat injections to the face and compared the procedure with a control. The researchers found this was the first article detailing the Coleman technique for fat transplantation.

The No. 7 study on the list, written by K. Yoshimura, et al., highlighted a new technique for breast augmentation using lipofilling in conjunction with cell-assisted transfer. Meanwhile, recommendations published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Fat Graft Task Force were slated at No. 38 on the list.

Lastly, the researchers noted L.A. Peer, who published in the 1950s and had two articles in the top-100, speaking to the significance of his research. – by Abigail Sutton

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.