Role of infrapatellar fat pad in pathological process of knee osteoarthritis: Future applications in treatment

It has been found that obese people have a higher proportion in suffering from osteoarthritis (OA), not only in the weight-bearing joints like knee and hip joints, even in non-weight-bearing joints such as hand joints. One of the reasons is because the large amount of adipose tissue secretes some factors, which can promote the occurrence of arthritis. As an important structure of the knee joint, the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) is actually a piece of adipose tissue. The aim of this review is to offer a comprehensive view of the anatomy and physiological characteristics of IPFP and its relationship with the pathological process of OA, indicating the important function of IPFP in OA. At the same time, with the development of adipose derived stem cells in the treatment of OA, owing to its special advantages, the IPFP is becoming a kind of important, minimally invasive fat stem cell source, providing a new approach for the treatment of OA. We hope that this review will offer an overview of all published data regarding the IPFP and will indicate novel directions for future research.