Clinical outcome of patients undergoing abdominoplasty after massive weight loss

BACKGROUND: Abdominoplasty is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures to reshape the body contour in patients who have undergone massive weight loss.

OBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to assess the clinical outcome, complication rates, and risk factors for complications of patients undergoing abdominoplasty after massive weight loss.

SETTING: University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

METHOD: Clinical outcome was retrospectively analyzed in 121 patients, who underwent abdominoplasty. The retrospective analysis included demographic data of patients, such as sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and pre-existing illnesses. Moreover, postoperative complications including seroma, hematoma, wound infection, and tissue necrosis were analyzed.

RESULTS: In our study cohort, the median age was 43.7 years, the median weight was 94.7 kg, and the median BMI was 32.3 kg/m2. The majority of included patients were women (70.3%). Death occurred in none of the patients. Among individuals, wound infection occurred in 3.3%, tissue necrosis in 1.7%, seroma in 7.4%, and hematoma in 3.3% of patients during the postoperative course. Reoperations were necessary in 2 patients (1.7%) due to postoperative bleeding and tissue necrosis of the navel. Tissue necrosis was significantly more often seen in a subset individual with type 2 diabetes (P = .006). Moreover, the rate of reoperations was significantly higher in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular illnesses compared with cardiovascular healthy patients (P = .036). Multivariate analysis analyzing risk factors for postoperative complications, including sex, age, BMI, diabetes, pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease, revealed strong independent relevance for type 2 diabetes (P = .024).

CONCLUSIONS: We found that abdominoplasty is a safe operative procedure. In addition, the risk for complications is significantly increased in the subgroup of diabetic patients and patients with cardiovascular diseases.