Abdominoplasty combined with other major surgical procedures: safe or sorry?

The clinical records of 563 patients undergoing either abdominoplasty alone or in combination with other major surgical procedures were reviewed in order to determine the relative safety of combined procedures. One-hundred-seventeen patients had abdominoplasty alone; 230 had abdominoplasty with either an intraabdominal or major pelvic procedure with or without an additional major aesthetic procedure; 216 had abdominoplasty with one or more major aesthetic procedures (without intraabdominal or pelvic procedures). The rates of occurrence of major complications, including death, pulmonary embolus, and infection, among the three groups were examined. Also examined were morbidity factors such as length of hospital stay and the need for blood transfusion. In this study, the only risk factor identified in predicting major morbidity, specifically the occurrence of pulmonary embolus, was obesity, not the complexity of the surgical procedure.