Re: Questions regarding fatty tissue lipomas.

Charles:

I think that your in-depth questions that reach beyond the basics of benign tumor pathology are an example of the old saying: "only the squeaking wheel gets the grease." Because most lipomas are so bland in their behavior, uninteresting to examine, monotonous in appearance, and their soft greasy tissue so difficult to handle, the inevitable result is few investigations that might provide some answers to your questions. Surgery remains the only recommended treatment for benign tumors because the clinical concern always arises about possible malignancy (although quite rare). Thus there is the ethical need to excise all of these lesions completely and examine them histologically for cancer (i.e., lipoSARCOMA).

Diet and obesity are unknowns, but certainly localized "lipoma-like" collections of fat seem to be fairly common in over-weight individuals. But these situations are probably not cases of a true new growth of lipoma cells, i.e., a true NEOPLASM, but represent simply "lipomatous" accumulations of normal fat cells, which are present in excessive numbers in conditions of obesity.

Scientific American and Discover are two layman's language magazines that come to mind regarding additional non-professional articles on this subject. You might search any good library's reference secion for reports from these sources.

Most benign fatty tumors, as well as cancers occur in the subcutaneous tissues of the limbs and trunk. Thus they are fairly easy to notice, and usually amenable to surgery. Chemotherapy, both oral and by vascular perfusion are usually employed as surgical supplements after malignant tumors are excised surgically. Well-differentiated liposarcomas have been convincingly cured by this combination approach. One final suggestion: Look into the whole area of brown fat, the interscapular gland, and the hibernation gland, as they apply to humans and hibernating animals. This is a fascinating area of fat tissue biology.

Sincerely, Scott Dietert