The present invention relates generally to method and device for fat transplantation, and more particularly, to a sponge that can be utilized for autologous fat transplantation by injection of aspirated fat cells.
The advent of liposuction over two decades ago has spawned the revolutionary technique of fat transplantation by aspirating fat cells from one portion of a patient body and reintroducing the fat cells to a different portion of the patient's body. Such lipoinjection procedures have spread rapidly through cosmetic and reconstructive surgical communities. A technique typically employed for harvesting fat for lipoinjection is tumescent local anesthesia, a process in which subcutaneous adipose tissue is infiltrated with large volumes of a dilute local anesthesia. The adipose tissue becomes swollen and firm after absorbing the anesthesia, allowing more accurate extraction of the fat cells by employing small diameter cannulas. Because of the infusion of anesthesia fluid into the adipose fluid, the harvested fat cells are mixed with a significant amount of anesthesia fluid when aspirated out of the patient. This fluid has to be discarded without damaging the lipocytes in order to obtain predictable and reliable results when the lipocytes are employed for lipoinjection. In fact, the quality of the results obtained by a lipoinjection procedure is directly related to the purity and viability of the injected fat cells. Thus, the ability to separate the anesthesia fluid from the aspirated fat-fluid mixture is crucial for providing fat cells of suitable quality and quantity for reintroduction into the patient.
A variety of techniques are known for separating the fluid from the fat cells. Some of these techniques include the use of a filter paper, a surgical gauze as a filter, sifters, centrifugation, and separation by gravity. All of these techniques, however, suffer from a number of shortcomings. For example, centrifugation and separation-by-gravity can be time consuming and inefficient.
Accordingly, there is a need for method and device that allow purifying fat for lipoinjection in a more efficient manner.
There is also a need for such a device and method that are cost effective, and can be readily utilized by practitioners.