No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Clinical summary: A tissue engineering approach was used to aid the surgical repair of a chronic oronasal fistula (ONF) in a 13-year-old cat. A three-dimensional (3D) printed mesh, tailored to the size and shape of the ONF, was created to support a soft tissue flap used to close the defect; and also to provide a matrix for mesenchymal stromal cells present in bone marrow aspirate and bioactive cytokines and growth factors present in platelet-rich fibrin harvested from the patient. A CT scan at day 75 after surgery revealed the formation of new tissue in the defect and the healing process was complete at follow-up 6 months after surgery. Relevance and novel information: Complications are frequently reported following surgical repair of ONFs and include dehiscence of the palatal suture line, flap necrosis due to damage to the greater palatine artery and maxillary osteomyelitis, mainly due to chronic infection and bone lysis. The case described here demonstrates how input from a multidisciplinary team and the use of a biomaterial, processed by sophisticated technologies, can create a precision regenerative medicine strategy adapted to the patient's clinical needs; this provided a novel therapeutic solution for an otherwise hard to treat clinical problem.

Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is a recent platelet-based biomaterial, poised as an innovative regenerative strategy for the treatment of wounds from different etiologies. PRF is defined as a biodegradable scaffold containing elevated amounts of platelets and leukocytes having the capability to release high concentrations of bioactive structural proteins and acting as a temporal release healing hemoderivative. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of canine-origin PRF, obtained from blood of screened donors, as a regenerative biomaterial suitable for the treatment of critical wounds in felines. Four short-hair felines with naturally occurring wounds were enrolled in this study. Three of the wounds were considered infected. Each PRF treatment was the result of the grafting of newly produced PRFs at the recipient area. The PRF treatment was initially performed two to three times per week, followed by single weekly treatments. The study was finalized when complete wound closure was achieved. No topical antimicrobial/antiseptic treatment was applied. The present research demonstrated that xenogenic PRFs significantly induced healthy vascularized granulation tissue in lesions with soft tissue deficit, also prompting the epithelization at the injured site. No rejection, necrosis, or infection signs were recorded. Additionally, PRF-therapy was revealed to be a biological cost-effective treatment, accelerating the wound healing process.