The History of Autologous Fat Graft Use for Prevention of Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea After Transsphenoidal Approaches

Presented herein is a review of the history of fat graft use in preventing iatrogenic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea after transsphenoidal surgery. Since the first transsphenoidal surgeries were described in the early 1900s, the techniques of sellar packing to prevent CSF leak have evolved. Kanavel, Halstead, and Cushing used bismuth- or iodine-soaked gauze. Under Dandy’s influence, fascia lata was the first autologous material to be used for the repair and prevention of CSF rhinorrhea. The use of autologous fat graft for this purpose has only been reported in recent decades. Montgomery was the first to use abdominal fat to obliterate the middle ear cavity in 1964, and Collins reported the first transsphenoidal application of fat graft in 1973. Other reports by Kirchner, Tindall, and Wilson followed.