Long-term follow-up on patients treated for abdominal fat using a selective contactless radiofrequency device

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.

http://ift.tt/2wLLbFP