Special International Society of Plastic Regenerative Surgeons Scientific Program in San Diego, United States

Summary:

The International Society of Plastic Regenerative Surgeons (ISPRES) has evolved over the years since its rebirth as an affiliated organization of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Over the years, ISPRES has held 6 International Congresses throughout the world. Recently, the ISPRES again had a strong and positive impact at the American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s Annual Meeting held on September 19–24, 2019, in San Diego, California. A series of educational programming dedicated to fat grafting and regenerative plastic surgery took place on September 22 known as the ISPRES Dedicated Track. Overall, there were >300 attendees throughout the day who attended our ISPRES scientific program. Many of them were international attendees from many countries. In addition, more than half of the invited speakers were also international. The interests of learning from attendees and of sharing from invited speakers on fat grafting and its new role of regenerative plastic surgery again demonstrate an important value of those scientific panels organized by ISPRES. We are all looking forward to our future world congresses with excitement. Under the capable administrative support from American Society of Plastic Surgeons, ISPRES, this new dynamic society with their primary focus on fat grafting and regenerative surgery will definitely look for more worldwide educational opportunities and will lead this subspecialty of plastic surgery to the next level of excellence.

INTRODUCTION

The International Society of Plastic Regenerative Surgeons (ISPRES) has evolved over the years since its rebirth as an affiliated organization of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Under the leadership of widely known and sought after “giants” in the realm of fat grafting, ISPRES has positioned itself as the leader and the source of the clinical application of adipose tissue and adipose-derived stem cells. As described in its bylaws, the mission of ISPRES is to advance the science of regenerative plastic surgery through research and innovation and to improve patient care by disseminating these advances to plastic surgeons around the world. Its future directions of the meeting are to primarily create a forum for the exchange of ideas, advancements, and research by physicians, scientists, researchers, and academicians for the science, application, and clinical use of regenerative medicine in plastic surgery.

The current Board consists of Sydney Coleman, MD, President (United States); Kotaro Yoshimura, MD, President-Elect (Japan); Norbert Pallua, MD, Vice President (Germany); Riccardo Mazzola, MD, Secretary (Italy); Brian Kinney, MD, Assistant Secretary (United States); Ali Mojallal, MD, Treasurer (France); Nelson Piccolo, MD, Parliamentarian (Brazil); Roger Khouri, MD, Immediate Past President (United States); Gino Rigotti, MD, Past President (Italy); Stefania de Fazio, MD (Italy); Facheng Li, MD (China); Guy Magalon, MD (France); Greg R. D. Evans, MD (United States); Manuel Garcia Velaso, MD (Mexico); Lee L. Q. Pu, MD (United States); Peter Rubin, MD (United States); Luiz Toledo, MD (United Arab Emirates); Jae-Ho Jeong, MD (Korea); Amin Kalajii, MD (Norway); and Eva Siolo, MD (South Africa).

Over the years, ISPRES has held 6 International Congresses throughout the world. Locations included Rome, Italy (2012)¹; Berlin, Germany (2013)²; Miami, United States (2014); Beijing, China (2015)³; Marseilles, France (2016); and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2017).⁴ ISPRES has also held 2 special symposia during the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in Orlando, Florida (2017) and Chicago, Illinois (2018). As part of the evolution and continued growth of the organization, ISPRES used 2019 as a year to focus on its future direction and strategy. Throughout 2019, ISPRES held several panels in conjunction with other national plastic surgery meetings in Japan, Italy, Brazil, France, and the United States, specifically San Diego.

The ISPRES again had a strong and positive impact at the American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s Annual Meeting held on September 19–24, 2019, in San Diego, California. A series of educational programming dedicated to fat grafting and regenerative plastic surgery took place on September 22 known as the ISPRES Dedicated Track. The development of such a scientific program was led by Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu who served as Chair and by Dr. Gregory R. D Evans who served as Co-Chair. The entire ISPRES program included a total of 4 panels: ISPRES/International Confederation of Plastic Surgery Societies (ICOPLAST) young plastic surgeons award presentation, facial fat grafting for rejuvenation and contouring panel, regenerative surgery panel, and what is new in fat grafting research panel.

The ISPRES scientific program began at 8:00 am with the Presidential Lecture given by ISPRES President, Dr. Sydney Coleman. Dr. Coleman provided an overview of the origins of fat grafting, his innovation and development to fat grafting technique, and his future perspective in fat grafting. He also attributed his early years in his career to the recently passed, Bruce Connell, MD. This marked the upcoming commencement of Dr. Coleman’s presidential term in December (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

Dr. Coleman (right), the President of ISPRES, and Dr. Pu (left), the Chair of the Scientific Program for San Diego Meeting, were right outside the meeting room before the scientific program started.

Immediately following the Presidential Lecture, the Third Annual ISPRES/ICOPLAST Young Plastic Surgeon presentation and award ceremony took place. The ISPRES/ICOPLAST Young Plastic Surgeon Award is the brainchild of Dr. de Fazio to honor and cultivate the young plastic surgeon. Abstracts related to the field of regenerative plastic surgery from surgeons ≤35 years old are graded and rated by a panel to determine the top 3 to present in-person. The 2019 panel was formed by Dr. de Fazio, Dr. Piccolo, Dr. Kinney, and Dr. Mazzola. Of the abstracts submitted, Yuanyuan Ma, MD (Japan), presenting Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Stimulates Proliferation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Via Src Activation, Annarita Agovino, MD, PhD (Italy), presenting Cellular Optimization of Nanofat: Increased Cell Count and Viability Using LipocubeNanoTM, and Hasan Celik, MD (Turkey), presenting Comparing Effects of: Blastema of Axolotl, Platelet Rich Plasma of Axolotl and Platelet Rich Plasma of Rat on Scalded Injury were chosen. A separate panel of judges were selected to rate the oral presentation. Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura and Dr. Rodney Cooter, ICOPLAST President, reviewed the live presentations. Dr. Celik was presented third place, Dr. Agovino followed placing at second, and Dr. Ma took the first-place prize. Each of the winners will be featured on the ISPRES and ICOPLAST websites, social media, and next year’s award promotions, complimentary registration to the next ISPRES Congress, and commemorative plaques. The first-place winner will also receive a $500 monetary prize.

Following the award presentation, the Dynamic Fat Grafting for Facial Rejuvenation or contouring panel was led by Dr. Stefania de Fazio and Dr. Gregory Evans (Fig. 2). The panelists included Dr. Steven Cohen from the United States for a lecture on injectable tissue replacement and regeneration, Dr. Gordon Sasaki from the United States for a lecture on stem-like cells and platelet rich plasma (PRP); assisted fat grafting in esthetic facial surgery, Dr. Tsai-Ming Lin from Taiwan for a lecture on facial contouring with micro-autologous fat transplantation, and Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu from the United States for a lecture on fat grafting for facial rejuvenation and contouring. The panel was so well attended and was standing room only for the rest of the morning. The panel focused on discussing more advanced technique of fat grafting for facial rejuvenation and contouring.

Fig. 2.

A group photograph right after the facial fat grafting panel. From the left to the right: Dr. Gregory Evans, Dr. Gordon Sasaki, Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu, Dr. Steven Cohen, Dr. Tsai-Ming Lin, and Dr. Stefania de Fazio.

The afternoon continued with the focused Regenerative Surgery Panel. Dr. Brian Kinney and Dr. Ewa Siolo moderated the session. Lectures included regenerative surgical approach to various clinical conditions by Dr. Roger Khouri from the United States, treatment of complex wounds with fat grating by Dr. Nelson Piccolo from Brazil, and treatment of scar conditions with fat grafting by Dr. Alessandro Veronesei from Italy, treatment of scar conditions in the hand and face with microfat grafting and PRP, alternating the quality of tissue with fat transfer by Dr. Eva Siolo from South Africa. In this panel, our international ISPRES speakers have demonstrated the new value of fat grafting for the treatment of a wide range of clinical problems with promising results (Fig. 3). The panel focused on introducing a new option for some difficult or unique clinical problems that are treated with the patient’s own fat by means of its regenerative potential.

Fig. 3.

A group photograph right after the regenerative surgery panel. From the left to the right: Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu, Dr. Ewa Siolo, Dr. Alessandra Veronesi, Dr. Nelosn Poccolo (second row), Dr. Brian Kinney, Dr. Guy Magalon, and Dr. Roger Khouri.

The final panel in the afternoon was focused on what is new in fat grafting research. Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu moderated the panel. Four selected experts in the field of fat grafting research provided the audience with emerging and fascinating fat grafting research. Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura from Japan presented new findings of fat grafting research from his institution. Dr. Peter Rubin from the United States presented adipose-derived stem cells and wound healing, Dr. Derrick Wan from the United States presented fat grafting for the treatment of radiation fibrosis, and Dr. Feng Lu from China presented very interesting studies on basic research and clinical applications of stromal vascular fraction gel. His lecture proved to be fascinating as reflected by the number of questions from the audience (Fig. 4). The panel focused on demonstrating several new developments in fat grafting research by above plastic surgeons and scientists in our specialty. Both afternoon panels were also well attended, and discussions after each panel were very thoughtful.

Fig. 4.

A group photograph right after the fat grafting research panel. From the left to the right: Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu, Dr. Derrick Wan, Dr. Peter Rubin, Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura, and Dr. Feng Lu.

Overall, there were >300 attendees throughout the day who attended our ISPRES scientific program. Many of them were international attendees from many countries. In addition, more than half of the invited speakers were also international. The interests of learning from attendees and of sharing from invited speakers on fat grafting and its new role of regenerative plastic surgery again demonstrate an important value of those scientific panels organized by ISPRES (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.

Dr. Pu with Dr. Alexandra Conde-Green, Dr. Ewa Siolo, Dr. Guy Magalon, and Dr. Peter Scott (South Africa) in the meeting hall.

While in San Diego, the board meeting was held on Sunday, September 23 (Fig. 6). Many important issues were discussed. Among them, future world congresses, many worldwide activities of ISPRES, its membership, and financial growth were discussed in detail. The eighth ISPRES World Congress will be held in Shanghai, China, June 24–27, 2020. The Congress will be held in conjunction with the Chinese Academic Conference at the Shanghai Convention Center in collaboration with the Chinese Society for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The ninth ISPRES World Congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, March 19–21, 2022, in conjunction with the National Plastic Surgery Meeting of South Africa. Any plastic surgeons who desire to learn more recent advances in research and clinical application of fat grafting and regenerative surgery from worldwide leaders in the field should attend our future congresses.

Fig. 6.

A group photograph of Dr. Nelson Piccolo, Dr. Ewa Siolo, Dr. Sydney Coleman, Dr. Roger Khouri, Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura, Dr. Stefania de Fazio, and Dr. Lee L. Q. Pu after the Board Meeting in San Diego.

Please be sure to join ISPRES at the eighth ISPRES Congress in Shanghai, China, this year. We are all looking forward to our future world congresses with excitement. Under the capable administrative support from American Society of Plastic Surgeons, ISPRES, this new dynamic society with their primary focus on fat grafting and regenerative surgery, will definitely look for more worldwide educational opportunities and will lead this subspecialty of plastic surgery to the next level of excellence.