Effectiveness of fat grafting in scar reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Scar brings great physical and mental pain to patients. Fat grafting may be a new and simple way to treat scar. This review aimed to systematically evaluate the correlation between fat grafting and scar reduction. Methods The author searched Chinese and English literature databases such as CNKI, Wanfang Data, Cqvip, Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, CBM, etc. for articles published in the period from 2011 to 2021 about the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the effect of fat grating on scar reduction, and then performed meta-analysis with Review Manager 5.4. Results A total of nine articles were included in the assessment of the effect of fat grafting on scar reduction, with meta-analysis suggesting statistical significance (OR = 5.63, 95% CI: 3.01-10.53, p < 0.01). There was statistical significance in the difference observed between the simple fat grating group (p = 0.004) and the group of existing therapies combined with fat grafting (p < 0.0001). Conclusion Fat grafting may be a good method for scar treatment, especially when it's combined with other therapies. Still, due to the limitations of included RCTs, more large-scale high-quality RCTs must be carried out before solid conclusions can be drawn.