OBJECTIVE: A pharyngocutaneous fistula is one of the complications after laryngeal and pharyngeal surgery. It may also contribute to wound healing due to adipose tissue-derived stem cells and the growth factors in the stromal vascular fraction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction on wound healing in the pharyngocutaneous fistula model induced in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Approval was received from the Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee before starting the study (29.01.2016-2016/09). Eleven male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing approximately 300 g were included in the study. The animals were randomly divided into the study and control groups so that each group would include five animals. An animal was assigned as a donor for the removal of omental adipose tissue. Among the animals in which the pharyngocutaneous fistula model was created under general anesthesia, 1 ml of the stromal vascular fraction was injected into the study group on postoperative day 1. In postoperative week 2, all the animals were sacrificed and examined histologically (epithelialization-cell infiltration - mucosal injury). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 15, was used in the analyses. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Epithelialization was higher in the study group compared to the control group. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p = 0.08). The cell infiltration was found to be statistically higher in the control group compared to the study group (p = 0.03). The mucosal injury was found to be significantly higher in the control group compared to the study group (p = 0.03). According to the Pearson correlation test, a negative correlation was found between epithelialization and cell infiltration and mucosal injury (p = 0.019 and p = 0.001). A positive correlation was found between cell infiltration and mucosal injury (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: It was shown that stromal vascular fraction had a positive effect on wound healing in the pharyngocutaneous fistula model. According to the data we have obtained, we think that it can be effective in the treatment of pharyngocutaneous fistulas after more extensive preclinical and clinical studies are carried out.