Seth A, et al. - In this study, researchers aimed at determining the impact of different surgical techniques and clinical patient factors on abdominoplasty outcomes. Findings revealed that with an acceptable complication profile, abdominoplasty alone or in combination with liposuction and aesthetic breast surgery can be performed safely.

Methods

• Researchers performed a retrospective review of consecutive patients undergoing abdominoplasty.

Results

• Abdominoplasty was performed on 779 patients; mean age was 43.7 years and body mass index was 27 kg/m².
• Of these, 92.9% were women, and massive weight loss was present in 34.8%.
• Traditional (59.4%), belt lipectomy (17.9%), fleur-de-lis (16.4%), umbilical float (9.2%), and mini-abdominoplasty (2.8%) were included as abdominoplasty techniques.
• Concurrent surgical procedures were noticed in half of the study population [n=384 (49.3%)].
• In this study, total complications (23.0%) consisted primarily of wound- and scar-related complications (15.3%).
• Heparin chemoprophylaxis was provided to approximately 60% of patients, with overall thromboembolic and hematoma rates less than 1%.
• In univariate analysis, researchers noticed that massive weight loss (p=0.04), fleur-de-lis (p=0.03) or belt lipectomy (p=0.05) techniques, and concurrent medial thigh lift (p < 0.001) all significantly increased complications.
• Total complications seemed to have no association with previous scars, amount of weight loss, operative time, liposuction, and other concurrent procedures.
• The independent risk factors for total postoperative complications included male sex (OR, 1.96; p=0.04), fleur-de-lis technique (OR, 1.71; p=0.04), and medial thigh lift (OR, 3.3; p < 0.001).