Safety in office-based full abdominoplasty.
BACKGROUND
As demand for outpatient procedures has increased, abdominoplasties are now judiciously being performed in accredited outpatient facilities. Previous reports on outpatient abdominoplasties are limited by small cohorts and have not distinguished among different types of body contouring procedures. Furthermore, these reports included patients who remained in the hospital overnight, rather than patients who were discharged within hours postoperatively.


OBJECTIVE
The authors review a case series of patients who underwent full abdominoplasty procedures performed in an outpatient facility with same-day discharge.


METHODS
Charts were retrospectively reviewed for 319 consecutive patients who underwent full abdominoplasty with the senior author (CLM) between 1992 and 2010. The charts of 206 patients for whom complete electronic medical record data were available were analyzed as a separate cohort. Demographic, operative, and postoperative data were collected. Systemic and local complications were assessed, as were revision rates.


RESULTS
No patients in this series developed any systemic complications, including deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, blood transfusion, intra-abdominal perforation, or death. The most common local complication was seroma, at a rate of 19.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
This report serves to add to the literature a large cohort of patients who underwent full abdominoplasty and were discharged within hours of surgery. The study shows that full abdominoplasty procedures can be safely performed without systemic complications in an outpatient setting. Based on these data, the ever-present sentiment that abdominoplasty is the plastic surgery procedure associated with the highest rate of venous thromboembolism should be carefully evaluated.


METHODS
4.
Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Sylvia
S
Gray
Elena
E
Gittleman
Clayton L
CL
Moliver
D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061214:Patient Safety; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult