The War on Fat: Updates on Zeltiq and Ultrashape

Here's what happened at the ASLMS conference regarding Zeltiq and Ultrashape:

For Zeltiq, a study was presented by Elizabeth Tanzi from Washington D.C. Co-authors were Jeffrey Dover, A.J Burns, Syd Coleman, Richard Fitzpatrick, Jerome Garden, David Goldberg, Roy Geronemus, Suzanne Kilmer, Flor Mayoral, Robert Weiss and Brian Zelickson. It was titled "A prospective clinical study of noninvasive cryolipolysis for subcutaneous fat layer reduction - interim report of available subject data."

This was a multi-center, prospective, non-randomized, IRB-approved study of male and female patients with back or flank fat. One side was treated and the other side untreated as a control. There was interim data on 32 patients which showed a visible contour change in the majority of patients. 10 patients had Ultrasound measurements which showed an average reduction of 22.4% in all patients at 4 months.

What you need to know: This was a very promising study of this technology. As we've covered before, it has received its CE mark in Europe (the equivalent of FDA approval). And it was a hot topic at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting, the Hawaii Dermatology Seminar, the International Masters Course on Aging Skin conference, and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons meeting.

Dr. Goldberg was mentioned in the list of co-authors of the study and the tests were conducted at his practice, Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ.

A little more on Zeltiq from a previous post:

"Cryolipolysis by Zeltiq involves the precise delivery of cold to unwanted fat areas such as love handles. Initial work was done on animals, but data was recently presented at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery meeting, showing that dramatic results can be seen in humans... Patients sit and read the newspaper while their fat is frozen away! Our NJ office is one of the FDA sites where we are treating love handles. "

Here is a four-month before/after after one treatment with Zeltiq:
Regarding Ultrashape, Guilherme Almeida, Leticia Almeida, Andrezza Facci, Elaine Marques, marcia Paes and Thais Notarangelli III, all of San Paulo, Brazil presented a study using external focused ultrasound for body contour with the new 1hz hand piece compared to the 3 hz hand piece.

This study showed results of 83 patients with 354 treatments with the Ultrashape's new 1hz hand piece (this was the hand piece we used in our US FDA trial at SMAC- see previous posts). Patients had 3 treatment sessions of all areas and were imaged with the Canfield's vectra 3d system. All patients showed at least 1.2cm of reduction of circumference per session with an average of 1.8cm. Satisfaction rate was 86%. Conclusions from this study comparing to previous treatments with the older handpiece were similar efficacy and 30% quicker treatment times.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ