April 2009

Pink Events Committee members
(L to R) Maureen Young, Kimberley O’Rourke & Sarah Pattinson (chairperson)
present Mr Phil Turton FRCSEd, FRCS(gen SURG), MD(Hons) with a cheque for £5,050.

The donation was raised to enable Mr Turton to purchase the Coleman Fat Transfer System for the Leeds Breast Clinic where he is the Consultant Breast and Reconstructive Breast Surgeon for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. The Coleman Fat Transfer System will be the first in this region and provide the Breast Clinic with a method of assisting women who have had a mastectomy as part of treatment for Breast Cancer.

Mr. Turton has trained in the use of the Coleman system in Glasgow and is now looking forward to being able to offer this innovative treatment to the women of the region. Following a mastectomy reconstructive surgery is sometime an option taken by women. One method is to take muscle from the back to use as a natural reconstructive material, however, sometimes there is not enough material to give a satisfactory result. This is where the fat transfer system comes in. Fat cells are removed from the patient by means of gentle liposuction in order not to damage them. These cells are then separated by means of a centrifuge and the ‘good’ fat cells are used to be injected through micro-cannulas. Because the fat cells are a natural product of the body there is no chance of rejection and the results achieved by this system have been declared to be truly amazing.

The system was pioneered by Dr. Sydney R. Coleman working in New York between 1995 and 2000. Since then the system has been growing in favour with the medical fraternity and we are pleased to be able to provide the funding for this equipment. Mr. Turton is now looking forward to being able to train his team in the use of this equipment and expand the services of the Leeds Breast Clinic. It is anticipated that the first patients to benefit from this new equipment will be seen in June 2009.