title: Increased morbidity in patients undergoing abdominoplasty after laparoscopic gastric bypass.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  30-40% of the adult population in Denmark are overweight and 10-13% are obese. The number of bariatric operations reached 3,000 in 2009, and it is expected that a third or more of the patients need corrective plastic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical charts of all patients who had abdominoplasty performed during a 2.5-year period. We included 72 patients of whom 21 had lost weight after bariatric surgery and 51 patients had lost weight through diet and exercise or had not been overweight.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall complication rate was 21% (43% of the post-bariatric patients and 12% of the non-post-bariatric patients, p < 0.01). When adjusted for the maximum body mass index (BMI) and BMI at the time of abdominoplasty, post-bariatric patients still had a higher complication rate than non post-bariatric patients (OR = 4.8; 95% CI: 0.92-25.04). Post-bariatric patients had a significantly higher maximum weight, weight at the time of abdominoplasty and had lost more BMI units.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show that post-bariatric patients who have an abdominoplasty performed suffer a high complication rate which appears to be higher than that of patients who do not have bariatric surgery. We have also shown a tendency towards increased costs of abdominoplasty in post-bariatric patients due to a slightly longer operating time and more postoperative office visits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Roskilde Hospital, Denmark. line.breiting@get2net.dk
authors.forename: Line Bro
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Breiting
authors.forename: Jørgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lock-Andersen
authors.forename: Steen Henrik
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Matzen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D015390:Gastric Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000601:surgery*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors