. To solve this common issue, in addition to surgical practices (i.e., retropubic bladder neck suspension or slings), biomaterials injections (i.e., teflon, fat, silicone, collagen) have been performed to increase urethral strength and avoid urinary leak. Among them, collagen (Contigen
) has remained the most promising. In a study of Martins et al., either cure or improvement was achieved in 86% of women, with a registered leak pressure increase and reduction in urinary protector use and urine leakage volume
. In another study, 48% were totally dry and 31% were socially continent after 2 months
. However, because of collagen absorption, stress urinary incontinence recurrence occurred in 41% of patients who achieved continence after 7–8 months
. Collagen reportedly degraded completely within 10–19 weeks, although magnetic resonance imaging of the urethra showed the persistence of the implant for as long as 22 months after injection
. Thus, repeated injections (2–5) may be necessary
. Hence, reinjections were performed, with a 42% regain of continence, giving a long-term success rate of 58–60%
. Totally favorable results, including improvement (40%) and cure (30%), were also recorded for up to 4 years
. However, it should be mentioned that elderly patients should be counseled that approximately 40% will experience recurrent leakage, which may not resolve with reinjection
. Conversely, Gorton et al. reported the absence of correlation between long-term success and the number of previous operations, body mass index, age, number or total volume of collagen injections
.
Glottic dysfunctions due to glottic gap, atrophy, paresis, bowing, paralysis and scarring result in voice absence or alteration. The gold standard for the treatment of vocal fold disfunctions is represented by medialization laryngoplasty or arytenoid adduction, surgical treatments that could significantly improve glottal adduction and phonation. Recently, to reach a better postoperative voice in the long term, biomaterials injection (i.e., autologous fat, silicone, collagen, hyaluronic acid, carboxymethylcellulose)
[94][198][199] has been additionally performed. However, autograft represent the known advantages of a double surgery, but means double surgery time and costs. Instead, xenografts are an attractive alternative for supplementing arytenoid adduction, because of their noninvasiveness, ready availability, and possibility to be performed under local anesthesia. Among them, collagen injectable formulations proved to be effective for vocal fold management. Patients treated with 1–2 mL of selected collagen injectable formulations (Koken
®, AlloDerm
®, Zyplast
®) showed at least some improvement in vocal function after the treatment, according to the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain (GRBAS) scale, Maximum phonation time, Mean flow rate, Relative glottal area. In particular, perceptual and objective voice quality improvement (less weak and breathy) was registered, with an increase of the mean maximum phonation time from around 8–11 s to 13–15 s, and a reduction of the mean flow rate from 322–564 mL/s to 223–385 mL/s and of the glottal gap
[91][92][179], for at least up to 2 years after operation
[92]. Thus, from the moment in which the safety and efficacy of collagen injections for the treatment of the vocal cords was affirmed by Ford and Bless in 1993
[181], the injection of heterologous material started to be even more required, given the positive feedback and long-term results
[96]. Although collagen injections were quite effective, and serious adverse events were rare
[91][92][95][181], documented complications included local abscess, migration of the implant, hypersensitivity reactions, stiffening, fusiform collagen mass, nodules
[94][156] principally related to the procedure and injection site
[91]. Indeed, if properly injected, the complication rate after collagen injection would decrease
[179].
5. Adverse Reactions to Collagen-Based Injectable Implants
All types of fillers may trigger an early tissue response to the injected material. Regardless of the filler material, frequently reported side effects are bruising, redness, swelling, induration, erythema pain, tenderness, itching and, in the most severe cases, violaceous plaque and granulomas
[200][201][202]. These side effects are usually mild and transient and resolve spontaneously after a short time. Only a few cases of severe and permanent complications have been registered.
Although compared with other injectables collagen-based formulations have many advantages, it does not mean that they are absolutely safe. Indeed, severe and non-severe adverse reactions to collagen treatments may occur. To the best of our knowledge, based on harvested and available data on adverse reactions registered after collagen-based commercial product applications, severe adverse events accounted for 8.2% (211 cases on 2587 patients), while mild adverse events accounted for about 5.3% (137 cases on 2587 patients) of those receiving the treatment.
With a focus on collagen extraction sources, it emerged that severe adverse events accounted for 12.1% (211 cases on 1742 patients) and mild events for 3.8% (67 on 1742 patients) when bovine collagen was used. In particular, severe adverse events were addressed to the use of one collagen-based product that was Augment
®, an injectable formulation composed of bovine collagen, β-tricalcium phosphate and recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor-BB
[80] (NCT01305356, NCT00583375). Leaving aside the Augment
® severe adverse reactions (211 on 1742 procedures), the other analyzed bovine collagen-based products (i.e., ChondroGrid, Atelocell, Zyderm, Zyplast, Contigen, Gelofusine, Flowable wound matrix and Helitene) were not associated with such issues
[66][91][92][94][96][106][108][160][166][167][169][194][203] (NCT02808325, NCT04637308, NCT02715466, NCT01515397, NCT02631356, NCT00868062). Since bovine collagen appeared to be safe, these events could be ascribable to other Augment components, without certainty. As regards mild adverse reactions, they were registered only when using Augment, Chondrogrid or Zyderm
[79][84][96][160].
Porcine derived collagen-based products (i.e., Cartifil, Cartizol, Fibroquel, Permacol and MD products) revealed to not trigger severe adverse events (no cases on 751 procedures) and to be responsible for the 9.2% of mild adverse events (69 cases on 751 procedures)
[119][120][121][122][124][125][126][127][128][129][131][133][134][140][141][142][143][144][148][149][161][184] (NCT02539030, NCT02539095, NCT04019782, NCT03323567, NCT02539082, NCT01528995, NCT04517162, NCT04353908). Mild adverse events could be due both to collagen type or to other components (i.e., glucose, CaCl, amino acids, vitamin B, fibrin glue for Cartifil/Cartizol; polyvinylpyrrolidone for Fibroquel) or to the injection procedure. However, data were not enough to identify the causes. Definitely though, the low mild adverse events rate of the MD product could be clearly ascribable to the presence of other bioactive compounds (such as calcium phosphate, rhododendron, arnica, hamemelis, silicon, iris, viola, cimifuga, citric acid, nicotinamide, hypericum, drosera, citrullus, ascorbic acid, magnesium gluconate, pyridoxine chlorhydrate, riboflavin, thiamine chlorhydrate) that had a strong impact on patients’ post intervention events. As regards Permacol, since it is not characterized by the presence of other components, adverse events triggered by its use could be attributed to collagen type, to the injection procedure, to the disease or to the patient specific response. In this case, available data do not allow clearly attribution of responsibility. However, mild adverse event usually resolved spontaneously or required minimal, not invasive intervention
[119][129][133][134][143][149][184] (NCT04353908, NCT04517162, NCT01528995, NCT02539030).
The third most used collagen type Is equine derived collagen, whose use is very recent and thus limited compared to bovine and porcine derived injectable products. Indeed, it has been reported to be used (i.e., Linerase, Savecoll-E) only on 94 patients, with no adverse events and only one registered mild reaction (1.1%)
[110][111][112][115]. Thus, although this percentage seems to be very low compared to other products, the limited number of executed procedures with equine collagen prevented the assessment of this collagen type as safer. This consideration could be applied also for human collagen derived products (i.e., Cymetra, Dermologen) for which two severe and zero mild adverse events were registered on the only patients
[156][181]. However, these data and these considerations are only indicative because not all studies reported participant number and adverse event occurrence.