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Long‐term follow‐up on patients treated for abdominal fat using a selective contactless radiofrequency device
Author(s) -
Fritz Klaus,
Salavastru Carmen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of cosmetic dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.626
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1473-2165
pISSN - 1473-2130
DOI - 10.1111/jocd.12429
Subject(s) - waist , medicine , circumference , body contouring , abdominal fat , contouring , weight loss , surgery , prospective cohort study , nuclear medicine , body weight , body mass index , obesity , mathematics , geometry , engineering drawing , engineering
Summary Background and objective The aim of this study was to evaluate how abdominal circumferential reduction achieved after using a noninvasive radiofrequency device ( BTL Vanquish, BTL Industries Inc., Boston, MA ) evolves over a 4‐year period. Methods This is a follow‐up on patients who were treated in our practice for abdominal fat in an earlier published multicenter prospective study. Patients were recalled for biometric data collection 4 years (±60 days) after the last treatment. Body and weight measurements were compared to the historical data. Digital images of the treated area were taken. Independent panelists were asked to recognize the original baseline images from the 4‐year follow‐up images. Results The evaluation encompasses 13 subjects. In the original study, these patients lost on average 5.88 ± 4.14 cm of waist circumference ( P < .001) while losing on average 1.29 kg. After 4 years, the same subjects had an average reduction of 4.42 ± 2.85 cm ( P < .001) compared to the baseline, while gaining on average 0.50 kg. In both cases, the waist change was statistically independent of the weight change ( P < .01). The patients preserved on average 75.2% of the original body contouring effect after 4 years as measured by circumference. None of the patients grew in circumference when compared to the baseline. Reviewers recognized the baseline patient images from the follow‐up patient images in 82.1% cases. No long‐term side effects were observed that would relate to the treatments. Conclusions In the study group, patients with ordinary weight changes preserved most of the original waist reduction after 4 years.