Adipose / Fat therapy

Adipose/Fat therapy is a gentle process that uses your body’s own fat tissue to cushion and support areas of injury or damage as your body heals itself. The adipose or fat is usually obtained from the stomach or thigh areas using a local anesthetic. Adipose/Fat therapies rinse, cleanse, and re-sizes the patient’s harvested fat. This harvested fat (referred to as MFAT which means microfragmented adipose tissue) is then precisely injected into the patient’s injured areas with the use of ultrasound guidance. It is especially effective for areas where there are soft tissue defects such as partial rotator cuff tears, patella tendon tears, labral tears, meniscal tears, and arthritis of the knee. Some of the different Adipose MFAT (microfragmented adipose tissue) therapies which include Lipogems, IntelliFat, PureGraft, and NanoFat. The Lipogems device was awarded as one of the Eleven Best Sports Medicine Technologies for 2016 by Orthopedics This Week and received further FDA approvals on July 5, 2018 . New Jersey Regenerative Institute is involved in ongoing data collection regarding the results of this treatment.

How it Works

Fat is very rich in regenerative cells, growth factors, and healing proteins known as cytokines. Cytokines affect other cell’s actions and behaviors by telling them what to do (specifically regenerative cells).

Gerard Malanga, MD discussing and showcasing Adipose/Lipogems on Innovations in Medicine as seen on PBS national television

The Procedure

Adipose/Fat therapies only require a small amount of fat to be removed (2-6 tablespoons). Your doctor will first inject a mixture of saline and an anesthetic into the harvest area which will thoroughly numb it as well as loosen the fat tissue for removal. The solution also helps to minimize bruising/bleeding in that area. The adipose tissue is usually taken from the patient’s stomach or thigh area.

Benefits

• MFAT (Microfragmented adipose tissues) washes your tissue to ensure removal of inflammatory oils and bloody residues as well as resizing them to limit inflammation in/around the treatment site
• Minimally invasive, carefully processed, patented and proprietary (FDA cleared) devices
• Reduces risk of infections and autoimmune rejection due to using your own tissue, which is then processed in a closed and sterile system
• Especially effective for chronic cases that have been resistant to other treatments

Patient Info and Research

• Patient-Centered Outcomes of Microfragmented Adipose Tissue Treatments of Knee Osteoarthritis: An Observational, Intention-to-Treat Study at Twelve Months
• Understanding Lipogems
• Gerard Malanga, MD and Jay Bowen, DO demonstrate Lipogems
• Professor Arnold Caplan about Lipogems at Joint Preservation Congress