Hybrid Stromal Vascular Fraction (Hybrid-SVF): A New Paradigm in Mechanical Regenerative Cell Processing

Background: Enzymatic digestion of extracellular matrix (ECM) from lipoaspirate is the conventional form of harvesting stromal vascular fraction (SVF) called enzymatically digested SVF (E-SVF). Mechanical SVF (M-SVF) isolation has emerged as an alternative method, but it has also some limitations in terms of lower cell viability and diminished cell counts. To enhance the SVF qualitatively and quantitatively, we propose a novel concept called "hybrid-SVF," in which we combine M-SVF with the concentrated parts of adipose tissue after centrifugation, which is called stromal vascular matrix (SVM). Methods: Hybrid-SVF injection was applied as an adjunctive therapy to fat grafting in 88 patients and 11 samples were evaluated in the laboratory for cell count, viability and cell activity. Results: Experimental results determined that SVM part showed higher cellular activity. SVM and M-SVF showed higher cellular potency than E-SVF. Clinically, none of the patients required an additional session for fat grafting since there was no significant graft resorption. However, seven patients asked for further volume augmentation due to their individual preferences. No major complication was encountered. Conclusions: The usage of hybrid-SVF has a very high regenerative potential due to the ECM support and exceptionally high cell yield in addition to preserved cell potency. Although there are ongoing studies focusing on optimizing cell counts and further clinical applications, we believe that our preliminary results might create a paradigm shift in the area of regenerative fat grafting.