Experts at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Center for Innovation in Restorative Medicine, Pennsylvania, are seeking individuals with amputations for clinical research to undergo fat grafting as a new way to provide a better fit for a prosthetic limb. Active-duty military men and women, age 18 and older, may be eligible to participate in the clinical trials.
Fat grafting is a minimally invasive surgical procedure. Surgeons remove a patient’s own fat from an area where it is less needed and transfer it to areas on the residual limb that have lost shape or fullness. While fat grafting is a common procedure-plastic surgeons performed approximately 65,000 in 2011-using it to improve the fit of prosthetic limbs is a new, experimental use of this well-known treatment. The experts said they believe this technique could be of significant benefit to patients with painful residual limbs. While the UPMC experts consider this a challenging application, they said they are now able to maximize the effectiveness of fat grafting by stripping down the collected fat to the most dense, stem cell-rich fat, and then injecting the refined fat into the residual-limb area.
To learn more about this current trial, Enriched Autologous Fat Grafting for Treating Pain at Amputation Sites (AMP-5), visit the ClinicalTrials.gov website. For more information, or to learn if you qualify to participate in this research study, call 412.864.2587 or use the UPMC online form.
