It is already hot summer when cold foods like ice cream or shaved ice are welcome. 'A slushy,' a beverage made of flavored ice and a soft drink, has become a representative summer menu for children. Two years ago, Professor Lilit Garibyan of Harvard University published a paper to introduce a noninvasive method for the removal of subcutaneous fat for body contouring by injecting ice slurry. Still, it was not well known to many doctors due to COVID-19 pandemic.
However, through the presentation at annual meeting of the American society for laser medicine and surgery held in San Diego two months ago, many medical scientists were excited to learn about the birth of a new medical device. 'Slurry' refers to a mixture of liquid and solid independent of temperature, like muddy water, but 'Ice Slurry' fundamentally has the same meaning as 'Slush' in that 'slush' is a state in which ice or snow is slightly melted.
A research team at Harvard Medical School, which has already made a fortune by making a cryolipolysis medical device in 2010, based on the report of panniculitis on the cheeks caused by ‘Popsicle’, conducted a study to inject the refrigerant for injection directly this time.
This is not the first indication to use the ice slurry in medical purpose. Since lowering the temperature reduces tissues' oxygen demand and basal metabolic rate, it has already been used in cardiovascular surgery and organ transplantation to protect tissues from ischemic damage. However, there were used only as a method to lower the temperature by contacting the outside. There was no biocompatible ice slurry developed for injection.
As a result of experimenting with various combinations, Professor Garibyan finally confirmed best mixture with normal saline and 10% glycerol to make an ice slurry at minus 4.8 degrees Celsius and injected it. In her first study, she sterilized a device that makes food slush and tested it on animals.
In the case of pig skin, which is most comparable to human skin, 30 ml of ice slurry single injection can reduce 55% of fat and 15 ml injection do so 25% after 8 weeks. She published another paper to prove ice slurry injection can paralyze nerve, too.
A human trial for safety was conducted with 12 volunteers. The pain varied from 0 to 5 points out of 10; erythema, swelling, and bruising occurred in more than half of them, but most of the side effects disappeared within two weeks.
Recently, Professor Garibyan's research team undergoes a clinical trial for the treatment of sleep apnea syndrome, focusing on the fact that sleep apnea syndrome is related to hypertrophy of adipose tissue in the tongue. Many medical doctors want to do a fat reduction treatment with a simple ice slurry injection. However, we should pay attention to the report that a 66-year-old female patient was taken to the emergency room due to acute renal failure after being injected with 1 liter of ice slurry to reduce belly fat, who followed Prof. Garibyan's first animal study article. Still many further studies on appropriate treatment protocols are needed.
Translated by Jini Jung
