Not Ready for Major Invasive Surgery?
Try Lipogems, a minimally invasive, FDA cleared option that can be performed in the clinic to help heal damaged or injured tissue
Why do people prefer to avoid major invasive surgery?
“In the Ponte Vedra Beach area, people strive to stay active and live healthy lifestyles. Surgery oftentimes requires time to heal and not everyone has the time to take away from work, their activities, social life, and their families to be able to commit to that time. We have minimally invasive options that may be right for their lifestyles and goals. Lipogems offers the ability to help them without taking the time off of work and help them heal naturally.”
Are you in the orthopaedic treatment gap?
The treatment gap is the time period between limited relief or failure of conservative efforts (such as physical therapy, pain medications, activity modification, viscosupplementation) and the time when they undergo surgical intervention. Typically, patients are in the “treatment gap” for 9-20 years and even 40 years for younger patients.
“Our goal is to help patients to live happier and healthier lives by providing FDA cleared options backed by peer-reviewed scientific literature. Many orthopaedic surgeons only offer conservative options and major surgery. It is important to provide patients options that are right for their lifestyle and bridge the gap. I like being on the forefront of new technologies and providing safe and effective options for my patients.”
What options do you offer patients that are in the treatment gap?
“My goal is to ensure that I provide my patients the options that meet their lifestyles and goals. I only offer safe options that are FDA cleared and are supported by strong evidence. I prefer using your own tissue to help support the healing process as a minimally invasive option. I particularly like using the patient’s own fat or their own blood to help support the healing process naturally.”
Why do you use a patient’s own fat tissue for orthopaedic issues?
“There are many benefits of fat! Fat is a very powerful tissue that has been used for medical purposes since World War I. Fat is a structural tissue that provides cushioning to support the healing of the damaged or injured tissues. My patients also like using fat because it is easy to collect from the abdomen or love handles using a minimally invasive procedure using local anesthetic. Even skinny or athletic patients have extra fatty tissue in the love handles area. Most people say “take as much fat as you would like!” Studies have shown that the quantity of important cells in the fat does not decline with age as it does with other cell sources 1,2,3,4 A clear advantage of using one’s own tissue is the decreased likelihood for rejection or infection. The fat can be processed using an FDA cleared device called Lipogems that washes, rinses, and resizes the fat to an optimal size using only simple saline. The output is called MicroFat and it can be injected into multiple sites in either your knees, shoulder, hips, foot and ankle in the same setting.”
What is Lipogems and is it FDA cleared for use in orthopedics?
Lipogems uses a patient’s own fat with a patented system that processes and resizes the tissue in just minutes. The processed tissue is called MicroFat™ (MFAT) and it is injected into injured areas to help provide cushion and support the healing of damaged tissues. As an analogy, the pothole can be filled with asphalt and allows cars to drive over it. MFAT is very similar because it is injected into the area where there is damaged or injured tissue and it provides cushioning to allow the area to heal naturally. “There have been over 60,000 procedures performed worldwide for the past 10 years and with positive experiences and minimal complications. I like that Lipogems is FDA cleared for use in orthopaedics and arthroscopic surgery and there are 160 peer-reviewed scientific publications about this procedure.”
My top reasons for using Lipogems:
Multiple Injections in the Same Session: “Many patients suffer from multiple orthopaedic issues in either their knees, hips, shoulders or foot and ankle. Ponte Vedra residents are often marathoners, triathletes, military personnel, weekend warriors, etc. that put a lot of wear and tear on their bodies. It is also common for patients to overcompensate for one issue that oftentimes leads to another issue. I like using Lipogems system because it simply washes, rinses, and resizes your own fat tissue for multiple injection sites in multiple sites during a single session with minimal downtime from the procedure and minimal pain medication.”
Natural, Minimally Invasive Procedure with Minimal Complications/Risk: “I prefer using the patient’s own tissue because it has a minimal chance of rejection or infection. There have been over 60,000 Lipogems procedures performed with a low rate of minor complications (1-2%) and no major complications reported.”
Strong Scientific Evidence from Leading Institutions: “As a board certified sports medicine physician, it is important to me to follow the clinical and scientific evidence from well-respected institutions. Lipogems has over 160+ peer-reviewed publications with 5-year follow-up supporting Lipogems. The scientific and clinical studies were performed at leading institutions such as New York University, Harvard University, Emory University, and others. The evidence has been presented at leading orthopaedic and sports medicine societies.”
Economical and Efficient: “The procedure is economical compared to major surgery. I find that the majority of the patients receive one procedure unlike other therapies. There is minimal down time required with the Lipogems procedure and my patients are happy with the procedure. Even if they need the treatment to be repeated again down the road they are happy to do it. It is important to know that each patient’s results will vary.”
| The Benefits of Lipogems |
| Supported by more than 160+ peer reviewed scientific publications with up to 5 years of follow-up 6More than 60,000 procedures5 performed worldwide with a low rate of minor complications 15and no major complications reported6,7, 8, 9Offered by leading orthopedic physicians around the world, your own Micro Fat may be used in multiple areas at the same time. No risk of rejection and low risk of infection since you are using your own tissueMinimal downtime after the procedureMinimal pain medication required after the procedureOne-time procedure for a majority of people6,9 |
Will someone need major orthopaedic surgery in the future?
“It is important to know that individual results may vary. You may or may not need major orthopaedic surgery in the future. You may or may not choose to have the procedure repeated if desired down the road. However, you may want to try this option if you are still suffering from your orthopaedic issue and/or major orthopaedic surgery has been cancelled or delayed or you are not ready for major surgery.”
If you are interested in learning more about your options, please click here:
- Book An Appointment Online: https://essersports.janeapp.com/locations/esser-sports-ponte-vedra-beach/book#/staff_member/1/treatment/21
REFERENCES
1. Beane, O.S., et al. (2014). “Impact of aging on the regenerative properties of bone marrow-, muscle-, and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem/ stromal cells.” PloS one 9.12. e115963.
2. Stolzing, A., et al. (2008). “Age-related changes in human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells: consequences for cell therapies.” Mechanisms of aging and development 129.3: 163-173.
3. Kern, S., et al. (2006). “Comparative analysis of mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, or adipose tissue.” Stem cells 24.5: 1294-1301.
4. Somoza RA, Welter JF, Correa D, Caplan AI. Chondrogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Challenges and Unfulfilled Expectations Tissue Eng Part B Rev. 2014 Dec 1; 20(6): 596–608.
6. Russo et al. Autologous micro-fragmented adipose tissue for the treatment of diffuse degenerative knee osteoarthritis: an update at 3 year follow-up. Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics (2017) 4:33
7. Hudetz, D, et al. The effect of intra-articular injection of autologous micro fragmented fat tissue on proteoglycan synthesis in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Genes. 2017, 8, 270.
8. Bisicchia, et al. Micro-fragmented stromal-vascular fraction plus microfractures provides better clinical results than microfractures alone in symptomatic focal chondral lesions of the knee. European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery, Arthroscopy (ESSKA) 2019
9. Cattaneo, G., et al. Micro-fragmented adipose tissue injection associated with arthroscopic procedures in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2018; 19(1):176.
Disclaimer:
Individual results vary. Not all patients will have the same post-procedure recovery and activity level. See your physician to discuss your potential benefits and risks.The Lipogems System is a sterile medical device intended for the closed-loop processing of your own fat tissue in medical procedures involving the harvesting, concentrating and transferring of your own fat (adipose) tissue harvested with a legally marketed lipoplasty system. This can be a minimally invasive procedure that’s done in the office, to support soft tissue defects and may promote healing in orthopedics and arthroscopic surgery. Lipogems may or may not appropriate for all patients. Like any medical procedure, there is a risk for soreness, redness, swelling, and/or pain. These procedures require needle access (size, location and depth vary depending on the procedure) and this may result in (but not limited to), discomfort, pain, apprehension, bruising, tenderness, bleeding, swelling, or infiltration at the injection site. Other symptoms that may occur include lightheadedness, fainting, nausea, or vomiting. There is slight risk of infection at the injection site and have minimal risk of adverse reactions or complications as with any other injection procedure. Since the fat is from your own body there is little concern of disease transmission, allergic reaction or tissue rejection. For patients with chronic medical conditions such as autoimmune, diabetes, heart or lung disease, circulatory diseases or obesity, extreme caution may be necessary. There are rare but possible risks and complications due to fat transfer including an allergic reaction to the local anesthetic, damage to underlying structures, hematoma or seroma (an accumulation of blood or fluid under the skin that may require removal), changes in sensation, unsatisfactory results that may necessitate additional procedures, permanent discoloration caused by a ruptured blood vessel at the treatment site, calcification, a divot in the area of the tissue harvest, peri-operative bleeding, a blood clot at the treatment or donor site, an infection, scar tissue, and a fat embolism caused by a fat injection mistakenly directed into a blood vessel, and death. The information presented is for educational purposes only. Speak to your doctor to decide if Lipogems procedure is appropriate for you. Individual results vary and not all patients will return to the same activity level. The lifetime of any procedure is limited and depends on several factors like patient weight and activity level. Your doctor will counsel you about strategies for your post-procedural care. It is important to closely follow your physician’s instructions regarding post-procedure activity, treatment and follow-up care. Ask your doctor if Lipogems procedure is right for you. Lipogems or other corporate affiliated entities own, use or have applied for the following trademarks or service marks: Lipogems. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners or holders.