Meta-analysis on the comparative efficacy of drains, progressive tension sutures and subscarpal fat preservation in reducing complications of abdominoplasty.

[INTRODUCTION] Abdominoplasty is a popular aesthetic operation. Complication rates vary from 4-80%. To date, there is a lack of evidence for complication-reducing techniques. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarise and quantify the effects of these techniques on complication rates and determine the safest combination.

[METHODS] A literature search was undertaken from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases. Two authors assessed the abstracts and evaluated their suitability for inclusion in the review. For each complication (including overall), a random effects meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the average number of complications. The log rate and associated variance is calculated in R using the "escalc" function from the metafor R package. For the forest plots the model output is back-transformed to the original scale.

[RESULTS] 4295 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall complication rates ranged from 9.3-33.8%. Revision rates were 3-21.9%. Forest plots of data extracted from observational studies demonstrated summary measures favouring the sub-scarpal fat preservation and drains, and drains only groups for overall complications. There were no significant differences between groups for seroma, haematoma, infection/abscess, skin/fat necrosis, dehiscence, surgical revision rate and VTE rate.

[CONCLUSIONS] The rates of individual complications are no different with or without the use of PTS, drain or sub-Scarpal fat preservation in different combinations.