DALLAS — For years, storing human fat has failed; it's not a simple process. But a technique being developed in Dallas could be a game-changer for the medical community.
And for 12-year-old Timothy Muldoon, who is the first to have it done, it could mean a more normal life ahead.
Birth defects mean Timothy has spent a lot of time in operating rooms. Doctors were pessimistic about his prognosis from the start.
"When he was first born, we said he was our miracle baby, because when I was seven months pregnant, I was told that he wouldn't survive," said Claudia Muldoon, Timothy's mom.
But science and faith were on his side.
This is Timothy's fourth surgery for doctors to create his nose. Dr. David Genecov, medical director of BioLife Cell Bank in Dallas, takes fat from Timothy's body to be used later to re-construct part of his cheek and his nose.
"He may get bigger, and the vast majority of these kids require repetitive procedures as they grow to give them some sort of symmetry and balance," Dr. Genecov said.
And that's why Dr. Genecov will — for the first time — be able to store Timothy's fat for years to come. He just opened the first fat banking center in the country using a new system.
When Timothy has another procedure, he won't need an expensive and exhausting operation again; just a vial of his own fat.
Dr. Genecov's team cleans the fat and adds three fluids before freezing everything flat in metal storage containers. The fat is stored at a temperature of 290 degrees below zero until needed.
"When you unfreeze the fat, it's got to be alive and it's got to be active, and it's got to be functional fat," Dr. Genecov explained. "Otherwise it just turns into scar."
Many other methods to store fat have been unsuccessful, but after years of research, this system is getting attention. The procedure costs up to $2,500 to retrieve the fat and store it for a year; storage is about $25 a month after that.
There are other centers in the U.S. and even in Japan looking to see how this goes, because successful fat storage is more complicated than it sounds.
"Tissues are much more difficult to store because there's a lot of different cells in there," explained tissue banking specialist Alex Bukrinsky.
Timothy Muldoon is Dr. Genecov's first patient to have his fat stored away. Technicians can also remove and freeze stem cells from his fat to be used at a later date.
"This is going to be his way of leaving his mark on the world — is being the first to have this done," said Timothy's mom — something that makes him feel good about himself.
"Special and warm inside," is how he put it.
"There is nothing better than taking a young person with facial differences, and help them grow and mature — physically and emotionally," Dr. Genecov said.
By storing Timothy's fat, the plastic surgeon hopes his young patient's next visit will be more routine, as he transforms into a young teenager that some doctors never imagined he could be.
E-mail sslater@wfaa.com
