Laser Therapy to Target Fat Tissue

New studies on fat-seeking lasers shows that free-electron lasers (FELs) can preferentially heat fat tissues in the body without harming the overlying skin.

Researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA), and the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA, USA) tested human fat obtained from surgically discarded normal tissue and found three wavelengths--915, 1210, and 1720 nm --where fat was more efficiently heated than water. The researchers then exposed fresh, intact pig skin-and-fat tissue samples about two inches thick to FEL infrared light, centered around the two most promising wavelengths, 1210 and 1720 nm.

The researchers zapped the samples with beams of infrared laser light ranging from 8-17 mm wide for about 16 seconds. They found that the 1210 nm wavelength preferentially heated pig fat up to1 cm deep without damaging the overlying skin. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery in Boston (MA, USA) in April 2006.

"We can envision a fat-seeking laser, and we're heading down that path now,” said Dr. Rox Anderson, lead author on the study and a practicing dermatologist at Harvard. Dr. Anderson is most excited about the potential for using lasers to target sebaceous glands in treating severe acne, but predicts that laser treatments could emerge for other medical conditions involving lipid-rich tissues, such as treatments for atherosclerotic plaque and unwanted cellulite.

"The superconducting radiofrequency accelerator technology that the FEL is built on allows us to tune laser light through a wide range of frequencies, including the infrared, terahertz, and soon, ultraviolet. Traditional lasers don't have that capability; they can only provide light at one frequency,” explained Fred Dylla, FEL project manager at Jefferson Lab.



Related Links:
Wellman Center for Photomedicine
Thomas Jefferson national accelerator facility