Comorbid Conditions and Complications in Body Contouring Surgery: A Retrospective Review
Kassra Garoosi, Leela Mundra, Kayvon Jabbari, Julian Winocour, Matthew L Iorio, David W Mathes, Christodoulos Kaoutzanis- General Medicine
Abstract
Background
Body contouring procedures have significantly increased in popularity in the United States.
Objectives
The authors sought to understand, categorize, and classify postoperative complications patients experience following common body contouring procedures.
Methods
PearlDiver (PearlDiver Technologies, Colorado Springs, CO) a database with over 90 million patients, was queried to identify patients who had undergone body contouring procedures between 2010 to 2021 using current procedural terminology (CPT) codes. The authors identified patients that underwent panniculectomy, abdominoplasty, brachioplasty, thighplasty, mastopexy, breast augmentation, augmentation-mastopexy, breast reduction, and liposuction for analysis. They reviewed combined procedures and analyzed risk factors associated with the most common complications.
Results
There were 243,886 patients included in the study. The majority of patients were female, between 50 and 59 years old, and had their procedures performed in the Southern U.S. There was an average of 25,352 procedures per year. The majority of cases were breast surgeries. The most common preoperative comorbid conditions diagnosed one year before surgery were hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. The most common postoperative complications within 90 days were wound dehiscence, hematoma, and urinary tract infection. A logistic regression evaluating the association of the preoperative comorbid conditions with postoperative complications found that patients with obesity, tobacco use, diabetes, and hypertension had increased risk of developing wound dehiscence, hematoma, and surgical site infection.
Conclusions
The data suggest that patients with obesity, tobacco use, diabetes, and hypertension undergoing body contouring surgery are at greater risk of developing wound dehiscence, hematomas, and surgical site infections. Understanding this data is imperative for providers to adequately identify associated risk factors, stratify patients, and provide adequate perioperative counseling.