J Korean Soc Plast Reconstr Surg.  1998 Oct;25(7):1236-1250.

Effects of ultrasound liposuction on the fat and muscle of pig

• No authors listed

Abstract

Ultrasonic liposuction has been popular for the removal of fat. Ten Yorkshire pigs served as the experimental models and the fat tissue in the back and abdomen and the biceps femoris muscle in the thigh were exposed. The animal models were divided into 4 groups according to the mechanism of cellular destruction. Group 1: a combined mechanism of ultrasonic and thermal effects, Group 2: as same as group 1 except minimal thermal effect, Group 3: only the ultrasonic effect, group 4: only the thermal effect. Then the ultrasound was applied to the fat and muscle of each group. In the infiltrated group of Klein solution, the increase of the temperature was less than the noninfiltration group.There was a significant increase of the temperature in the muscle than in the fat approximately one and half folds in vivo. Fat cells were destroyed more in the infiltrated group than in the noninfiltration group. But muscle was destroyed less in the infiltration group. The reduced weight changes of the destroyed fat cells were about 1.2-4.7% in group 1, 1.1-3.6% in group 2, 1.0-1.9% in group 3, 0.7-1.0% in group 4. There was no muscle cell damage in the group 3 and the degree of destruction was similar in the group 1 and group 4. Also light microscopic and electromicroscopic findings of muscles were similar in group 1 and group 4. These findings suggest that the main cause of the muscle damage is thermal burn due to the contact of the cannula. In the fat cell, the pure ultrasound effect of the ultrasonic liposuction was calculated as 57%. and the thermal effect 31%. But in the muscle group the destructive effect was due to thermal effect, and ultrasound showed minimal effect. In the electromicroscopy, there was fragmentation and abnormal contour of the cell membrane, loss of the nucleus, many vacuoles in the fat droplet, and loss of aggregation between cells and scattered appearance of the fat cells. In the ultrasound liposuction, many mechanisms are involved and among them cavitation mechanism to weaken the cell membrane and thermal damage play an important role.

MeSH Terms

Abdomen
Adipocytes
Burns
Catheters
Cell Membrane
Lipectomy*
Models, Animal
Models, Theoretical
Muscle Cells
Muscles
Swine
Thigh
Ultrasonics
Ultrasonography*
Vacuoles