LifeCell Corporation Introduces New Fat Grafting Device

LifeCell has introduced a fat grafting device for aesthetic and reconstructive procedures. Fat grafting involves harvesting and transferring adipose tissue or body fat from one area of the body to another, a technique that is gaining in popularity with surgeons because it uses the patient’s own tissue to enhance volume.

The company’s Revolve System is designed to yield rapid, reliable results in high-volume procedures through the use of a simple, closed system that controls critical variables in fat grafting. The single-use device can be placed in the sterile field to facilitate more efficient processing, filtering, and transferring of a patient’s own (autologous) fat tissue. It enables high-volume fat processing (up to 800ml lipoaspirate) in less than 15 minutes, offering the potential to reduce operating room procedure time, the company claims.

“The use of fat grafting for breast reconstruction can help patients achieve more natural-looking breasts following lumpectomy or mastectomy,” said Allen Gabriel, M.D., F.A.C.S., with Peace Health Medical Group Plastic Surgery, Vancouver, Wash.. “We have found the Revolve System enables us to process large volumes of fat in an efficient manner and obtain a high quality graft for use in reconstructive procedures.”

Revolve uses a specially designed mesh to filter blood debris and fluid and yield high quality, clean adipose fat. A proprietary “collagen string catcher” enhances procedural speed and efficiency by helping to prevent syringe tips from clogging during fat re-implantation.

An animal study* comparing the Revolve System to fat processing done through the decant method and centrifugation showed equal or greater fat retention for Revolve. The device also removed more free oil and red blood cells from the fat graft than either the decant method or centrifugation. In the same study, the fat processed with Revolve demonstrated an ability to maintain physiological conditions such as pH and osmolality.

*Correlation of these results to results in humans has not been established.

The Revolve System was developed by The GID Group, Inc., a consortium of plastic surgeons and adipose tissue scientists who use a deep science-based approach to create tissue processing platforms. The device is marketed and sold by LifeCell Corporation.

Based in Branchburg, N.J., LifeCell Corporation develops and markets tissue repair products for the reconstructive, orthopedic and urogynecologic biosurgery markets. LifeCell products include Strattice Reconstructive Tissue Matrix and AlloDerm Regenerative Tissue Matrix, for plastic, reconstructive, and general surgical applications; Cymetra Regenerative Tissue Matrix, a particulate form of AlloDerm Tissue Matrix suitable for injection; Repliform Regenerative Tissue Matrix, for urogynecologic surgical procedures; GraftJacket and Conexa for orthopedic surgical procedures; and the SPY Elite System for the visualization and evaluation of tissue perfusion.