One hundred three patients underwent abdominoplasty combined with other intraabdominal procedures including 67 tubal ligations, 34 total abdominal hysterectomies and 2 cholecystectomies, from January 1983 to July 1991. The patients were divided into two groups, those undergoing the standard or total abdominoplasty and those undergoing limited abdominoplasty with or without liposuction in delimited areas. In this series of 103 patients, we found only two minor complications and only three patients were transfused with autologous units of blood. When performed by well-schooled surgical teams, abdominoplasty may be combined with intraabdominal procedures with gratifying results.
PIP: Between January 1983 and July 1991, well trained surgical teams performed either standard abdominoplasty or miniabdominoplasty on 103 patients who also underwent tubal ligation, total abdominal hysterectomy, or cholecystectomy to determine whether surgeons can effectively combine abdominoplasty with other intraabdominal procedures. Prescribed preoperative procedures included respiratory exercises. Physicians advised patients to stop smoking 2 weeks before surgery. Physicians also instructed them not to take any aspirin or other drugs with anticoagulant effects 2 weeks before surgery. Tubal ligation patients who also underwent standard abdominoplasty were in the operating room for 3 hours and for 2 hours if they underwent miniabdominoplasty. Total abdominal hysterectomy patients were in the operating room for either 3-4 hours (standard abdominoplasty) or 2.5-3 hours (miniabdominoplasty). Surgeons performed cholecystectomy in those patients who only underwent standard abdominoplasty. They were in the operating room for 4-5 hours. The combination of intraabdominal procedure and standard abdominoplasty increased the time in the operating room by 40-90 minutes. Number of days in the hospital for standard abdominoplasty patients included 2-3 for tubal ligation, 5 for total abdominal hysterectomy, an 5-7 for cholecystectomy. Miniabdominoplasty patients were in the hospital 1-2 days for tubal ligation and 5 days for total abdominal hysterectomy. Only 2 minor complications occurred: a seroma and a minor skin slough. 3 patients required transfusion of autologous units of blood and non of them lost more than 500 ml of blood. The physicians encouraged all patients to become ambulatory soon after the operation and to wear elastic stockings to prevent thromboembolic events. As a result, none of the patients suffered a pulmonary embolism. In conclusion, good surgical teams can safely and effectively combine abdominoplasty with intraabdominal procedures.