Background: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) lipolysis still lacks treatment efficacy. The authors hypothesized that electrical stimulation of muscular groups can enhance the metabolism of free lipids released from HIFU-ablated adipocytes.
Methods: Five-month-old, male Landrace swine, with an average initial weight of 95 kg, were divided randomly into sham, HIFU only, HIFU plus electrical stimulation I, and HIFU plus electrical stimulation II groups. Subcutaneous adipose tissue of the porcine abdomen was treated once by HIFU on days 1 of weeks 1, 3, and 5, and electrical stimulation of the quadriceps was performed once on the day 1 of weeks 1 through 6. The numbers of ultrasonic sonications were 70 per treatment for the HIFU-only and HIFU plus electrical stimulation I groups and 400 for the HIFU plus electrical stimulation II group. The measured data are expressed as medians (ranges).
Results: The body weights of all pigs increased gradually with time. The waist circumferences below the sheath decreased from 97.7 ± 6.0 cm in week 1 and 97.9 ± 5.3 cm in week 3 to 96.4 ± 10.0 cm in week 6, and from 105.3 ± 5.1 cm and 101.2 ± 7.4 cm to 100.5 ± 6.1 cm for the HIFU plus electrical stimulation I and II groups, respectively, whereas they increased for the sham and HIFU-only groups. The reductions in the adipose tissue thickness were 0.59, 1.46, and 2.18 mm for the HIFU-only, HIFU plus electrical stimulation I, and HIFU plus electrical stimulation II groups, respectively, when the sham group increased by 1.42 mm. Follow-up blood analyses demonstrated no significant changes in lipid panel parameters from baseline values.
Conclusion: HIFU plus electrical stimulation can induce a substantial reduction in the waist circumference of pigs.