What Is the Impact of Comorbidities on the Risk for Postoperative Body-Contouring Surgery Complications in Postbariatric Patients?

[BACKGROUND] There is an increasing number of patients presenting after massive weight loss for plastic surgery, and many of these patients have residual diseases that may compromise outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the impact of comorbidities on the development of postoperative complications in postbariatric patients undergoing plastic surgery procedures at the Federal District North Wing Regional Hospital, Brasília, Brazil.

[METHODS] Descriptive, analytical, and prospective study was performed on patients who underwent plastic surgery following RYGB from January 2011 to December 2016. Measures included BMI (body mass index) before RYGB and before plastic surgery, medical complications and comorbidities.

[RESULTS] One hundred thirty-nine patients (130 female, 9 male) with a mean age of 41 years underwent 233 separate operations. The average BMI at the time of plastic surgery was 27.44 kg/m. The average weight loss was 47.02 kg, and the mean pre-weight-loss BMI (max BMI) was 45.17 kg/m. The most important pre-plastic comorbidities were arterial hypertension (11.5%), degenerative arthropathy (5.4%), diabetes mellitus (5.0%), and metabolic syndrome (4.3%). Of the 139 patients operated upon, 76.97% underwent abdominoplasty followed by mammoplasty (42.46%). The overall rate of complications was 26.65%. Initially, on univariate regression analyses, comorbidities influenced the development of postoperative complications. However, after multiple logistic regression, the most important comorbidities failed to predict an increased risk of complications.

[CONCLUSION] In this group of patients, with these anthropometric and clinical profiles, the most important comorbidities (diabetes, arterial hypertension, and metabolic syndrome) failed to influence the incidence of postoperative complications in postbariatric patients after plastic surgery.