Selective fat removal using photothermal heating
AssigneesThe Regents of the University of California, Elux Medical, Inc.
InventorsAdah Almutairi, Khalid Almutairi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method are provided for minimally-invasive selective fat removal from a target area by injecting the area with a solution of photo-absorbing nanoparticles and irradiating the injected area with a beam of near infrared (NIR) light. The NIR emission wavelength excites the nanoparticles to melt fat within the target area so that the liquefied fat can be aspirated from the target area. The nanoparticles may be gold nanorods having aspect ratios selected to produce surface plasmon resonance when irradiated with NIR light around 800 nm.
Claims28
A method for selective removal of fat from a target area in a subject in need thereof, comprising:
- injecting a solution of photo-absorbing nanoparticles in a pattern to define a uniform distribution of injected solution in adipose tissue in the target area;
- delivering a series of pulses of near infrared light across an area of skin overlying the target area and into the injected solution for an exposure duration to induce surface plasmon resonance in the nanoparticles, wherein the near infrared light has a combination of optical parameters selected from the group consisting of beam energy, pulse duration, emission wavelength within a range of 700 to 900 nm, emission intensity, beam focus and beam area, the optical parameters and the exposure duration selected to excite the nanoparticles to liquefy fat within the target area;
- and
- aspirating a liquid from the target area, the liquid comprising subcutaneous tissue, liquefied fat, and the injected solution.
A method for subcutaneous fat removal and skin tightening in a person in need thereof, the method comprising:
- subcutaneously injecting a suspension of photo-absorbing gold nanorods in solution into a target region of adipose tissue of the person;
- scanning pulses of NIR light energy for a plurality of passes across an area of skin overlying the target region and into the injected suspension for an exposure duration, the NIR light energy having optical parameters selected from the group consisting of beam energy, pulse duration, emission wavelength within a range of 700 to 900 nm, emission intensity, beam focus and beam area, the optical parameters and the exposure duration selected to excite the nanoparticles to liquefy fat within the target area;
- and
- extracting a liquid from the target area, the liquid comprising subcutaneous tissue, liquefied fat, and the injected suspension.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.