Vienna/Tokyo (2007-10-16) — Medics from two different cultures met in Japan: Vienna based cosmetic surgeon DDr. Karl-Georg Heinrich paid a visit to Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura of Tokyo. The Viennese expert in cosmetic surgery and his Japanese colleague from Tokyo medical University are today’s leading authorities in a new method of bodyforming, using the patients’ own fat. Both are working on the improvement of current autologous fat technologies by using stem cells.
In the classic method of own-fat transfer (Lipofilling, Lipostructure®) fat removed from belly or buttocks by liposuction is being used to fill up other body parts. Cell assisted Lipotransfer – transfer of own fat assisted by stem cells – improves the own-fat’s capacity to survive. It therefore can now be used to enlarge and form the breast.
However, both methods – the stem cell assisted fat transfer as well as the classic method -require high surgical skills: Fatty tissue should be harvested by use of a special canulla from buttock or thigh. About double the amount later to be used on the breast should be removed. In a special multi-step process stem cells of the connecting tissue will be isolated from half of that material. These valuable cells must not be destroyed in the procedure. The cells will not be processed or changed in any way. Only one or two hours after harvesting, they will be added to the rest of the harvested own fat and step by step injected into the patients breasts. This procedure follows the so called “grain of rice principle” and is done under local anaesthesia. The expected result will be a gain in volume by one or two cup-sizes.
The method of “cell assisted lipotransfer” has been originally developed in the USA and in Japan. Professor Kotaro Yoshimura can rightly be called a pioneer in this field. At Cellport Clinic in Yokohama he has since 2003 successfully treated hundreds of patients by “cell assisted lipotransfer.” DDr. Karl-Georg Heinrich is the first physician in Europe to offer this method at his institute.
In his conversation with his guest from Vienna Professor Yoshimura emphasized the advantages of this method over silicon implants. Many of the women who contact Cellport Clinic simply do not want to receive scars and feel insecure about possible long term side effects of silicon. “Dr. Yoshimura even told me, that many women in Japan have their silicon implants removed to undergo cell assisted lipotransfer,” says DDr. Heinrich, “both of us feel the need to offer women a natural and lasting alternative to silicon.”
To DDr. Heinrich scientific exchange of ideas is crucial. He therefore travels a lot to meet colleagues from all over the world. Last summer he was invited by Cytori Therapeutics of San Diego, USA, to learn more about the actual state of a technology called Celution®. This method is currently in clinical evaluation and might in the future facilitate the isolating of stem cells from the suctioned fat. At this time this process requires complex and labour consuming laboratory work under highly sterile conditions.
Contact:
Clinic DDr. Heinrich®
E-mail: info@ddrheinrich.com
Web: http://ddrheinrich.com/
Phone: +43 1 532 18 01