Following Lipectomy to Understand Adipose Tissue Re-accumulation

The typical female pattern of accumulating fat in the hips and thighs has long been thought to confer less risk for disease than the typical male abdominal fat pattern. However, leg fat may not simply be benign with respect to disease risk, but may in fact protect against cardiovascular disease risk. Although the mechanism for this is unknown, the investigators hypothesize that removing a portion of this important fat depot (via liposuction) could increase disease risk. Such unfavorable results may or may not be transient depending on an individual's ability to defend their fat mass. Because sex hormones appear to play a role in regional fat accumulation, the investigators hypothesize that estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women may have an augmented abdominal fat accumulation and an attenuated hip and thigh re-accumulation compared to premenopausal women following lipectomy and compared to non-surgical controls. As a result, the increased abdominal fat accumulation may worsen disease risk in postmenopausal women. Menopause-related differences in fat storage at baseline are also expected to determine the degree to which lipectomy alters disease risk and the propensity for AT re-accumulation.