Efficacy of Adipose Derived Stromal Vascular Fraction in the Treatment of Keloids

Keloids affect upto 16% of Africans causing significant cosmetic, functional and psychosocial distress. Available treatment options are associated with high recurrence and highly variable symptom relief. Autologous adipose derived stem-cells(ADSCs) have been described to have a potential therapeutic benefit in treating keloids. Investigators will compare intra-lesion single dose Autologous Adipose Derived Stem Cells harvested from abdominal fat to Triamcinolone Acetanoide among 15 patients with keloids treated at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala Uganda between September 2020 and August 2021. These patients will be followed up for keloid volume change at three months following treatment.

Background: Keloids are a disorder of wound healing characterized with excessive scar formation affecting upto 16% of Africans. These are often associated with functional and cosmetic disfigurement with resultant psychosocial distress and reduced quality of life.

Available treatment options are associated with high recurrence and highly variable symptom relief. Autologous Adipose Derived Stem cells (ADSCs) have been recognized to have effect on scar remodeling including regression and remission thus becoming a promising alternative novel therapy. Investigators hypothesize that these ADSCs have a comparable efficacy to Triamcinolone Acetanoide (TAC) which is the existing standard of care in sub-Saharan Africa and therefore intend to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of ADSCs as a therapy in the treatment of keloids. More specifically they shall evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of ADSCs versus TAC in non-surgical treatment of keloids as well as the efficacy of ADSCs to TAC as post-surgical excision adjuvant therapy in preventing recurrence.

Methods: Investigators shall conduct a single center parallel randomized control trial at Mulago National Referral Hospital following the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of SOM-MakCHS.

For the intervention arm, ADSCs will be obtained by processing lipoaspirate obtained from the abdominal fat-pad of the participants. The control arm will receive TAC. Both arms will receive intra-lesional infiltration of either treatments and followed up at 3 months after therapy. The primary outcome will be the scar regression, remission and acceptability. Two-way Repeated Measures Anova will be used to determine the difference in the treatment arms and time. The All Pair Wise Multiple Comparison Procedure (Holm-Sidak method) will be used to determine the specific differences for both time and treatment factors with an alpha gain set at 0.05.

Potential impact: This project promises to introduce Adipose Derived Stem-cells as a readily available alternative or adjuvant to existing therapies for keloids.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients with a single keloid of 1-2cm3 as these have the highest response to any treatment administered.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Previous intra-lesional steroid injection treatment in the last three months as the effects may still be ongoing
* Insufficient abdominal fat pad(depth) of 3cm
* Confirmed bleeding disorder
* Ongoing systemic illness
* Ulceration or local keloid infection