Low-Level Laser-Assisted Lipoplasty Appearance of Fat Demonstrated by MRI on Abdominal Tissue

Abstract

Introduction: In an effort to study the changes of subcutaneous fat after exposure to a low-level diode laser and tumescent infiltration, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings are presented. The subcutaneous abdominal fat is exposed for 4 and 6 minutes irradiation time. This has previously been studied using a scanning electron microscope. The anatomical characteristics of the superficial and deep fat previously described by other authors are correlated with the scanning electron microscope and MRI. The changes in the characteristics of the fat before and after tumescence and before and after application of the low-level diode laser are shown. Materials and Methods: By using MRI techniques, 3 patients were evaluated prior to infiltrating the subcutaneous tissue with tumescent fluid with T1 and T2 sequences. The same patients were evaluated again after applying or infiltrating the tumescence and again after exposure using the low-level laser beam for 4 and 6 minutes. Conclusion: The MRI showed no laser exposure in the T1 sequence; the adipose tissue, both superficially and deep, appears to have a bright signal and is homogenously distributed. After 4 minutes of laser exposure, the T1 sequence demonstrated that the adipose tissue is partially coalescent and has changed its signal. After 6 minutes of laser exposure, the MRI demonstrated that the adipose tissue is much more coalescent and is blurred. The fatty density and organization seems to have changed completely after exposure to the laser beam for this period of time. (The scanning electron microscope revealed that at this particular time 100% of the fat was in the interstitial space and the transitory pore was now open.) The MRI evaluation of the subcutaneous fat seems to correlate well with the findings of the scanning electron microscope, showing that there is a definite change in the consistency of the subcutaneous fat following exposure to the low-level electronic diode laser.