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Noncultured cellular grafting successfully achieves repigmentation for vitiligo
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Repigmentation was maintained up to 60 months in more than 80% of patients with vitiligo who were treated with noncultured cellular grafting, according to recently published study results.
Researchers reviewed data for 177 patients (mean age, 34.4 years; 54.8% female) with vitiligo who underwent noncultured cellular grafting between March 2006 and December 2012 at the National Skin Center in Singapore.
Patients with stable vitiligo — defined as the absence of new lesions, absence of progression of existing lesions and absence of Koebner phenomenon in the preceding 12 months — were eligible for grafting. Mean duration of vitiligo before grafting was 99 months, and 86% of the patients had Fitzpatrick skin type IV.
The researchers analyzed 197 grafted sites, including 132 sites requiring one primary grafting session, 29 sites requiring repeated sessions and 36 sites with staged grafting. Face/neck and trunk were the most commonly grafted sites. Researchers reviewed charts and clinical photographs to determine percentages of epidermal repigmentation at 3, 6, 12, 24,36, 48 and 60 months.
Of the 140 patients with available data at 12 months, 77% showed good to excellent repigmentation. At 60 months, 19 of 23 patients on active follow-up maintained repigmentation.
There were 88% of patients with segmental vitiligo achieving good to excellent repigmentation at 12 months vs. 71% with nonsegmental vitiligo (P < .05).
Good to excellent repigmentation also was reported for 82% of patients treated with collagen compared with 63% of those treated with hyaluronic acid (P < .05).
“Sites of lesions and postgrafting phototherapy did not significantly affect repigmentation outcome,” the researchers wrote.
Adverse events included 8% of cases having postinflammatory pigmentary changes at the donor site, while 5% developed hypertrophic scarring. No scarring was reported on the recipient sites.
“It would be useful for future studies to assess longer-term repigmentation outcomes and to compare the traditional cell extraction process used in our study with other modified techniques discussed in literature,” the researchers concluded. – by Bruce Thiel
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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