Adult Stem Cells Successful For Breast Reconstruction

Bioethics   |   David Prentice   |   Mar 7, 2011   |   6:55PM   |   Washington, DC

Results of a long-term study released Wednesday show that adult stem cells from a patient’s own fat tissue are safe for breast reconstruction for former breast cancer patients.

The results from this 12-month, 71-patient trial confirmed the findings of an earlier six-month trial. The trial, referred to as RESTORE-2, was run by the company Cytori Therapeutics Inc., which said that the data are being prepared for peer-review publication and should be publicly available later this year.

The Cytori method extracts adult stem cells from a patient’s fat tissue, and could help many women regain a higher quality of life. The intervention is relatively simple. Extraction of ethical adult stem cells takes only a few minutes and the entire procedure until the cells are injected into the breast takes only a few hours, with restoration of breast tissue complete within about six weeks.