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Published on: May 17, 2024
The Impact of Prior Abdominal Surgery on Complications of Abdominally Based Autologous Breast Reconstruction: A
Evalina S Bond1, Carol E Soteropulos1, Qiuyu Yang1
1Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
Background:
Approximately half of all patients presenting for autologous breast reconstruction have abdominal scars from prior surgery, the presence of which is considered by some a relative contraindication for abdominally based reconstruction. This meta-analysis examines the impact of prior abdominal surgery on the complication profile of breast reconstruction with abdominally based free tissue transfer.
Methods:
Literature search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Included studies examined patients with a history of prior abdominal surgery who then underwent abdominally based free flap breast reconstruction. Prior liposuction patients and those with atypical flap designs were excluded. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess study quality. Flap complications included total and partial flap loss, fat necrosis, infection, and reoperation. Donor-site complications included delayed wound healing, infection, seroma, hematoma, and abdominal wall morbidity (hernia, bulge, laxity). Relative risk and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between groups were calculated. Forest plots, I 2 statistic heterogeneity assessments, and publication bias funnel plots were produced. Publication bias was corrected with a trim-and-fill protocol. Overall effects were assessed by fixed-effects and random-effects models.
Results:
After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 16 articles were included for final review. These included 14 cohort and 2 case-control studies, with 1,656 (46.3%) patients and 2,236 (48.5%) flaps having undergone prior surgery. Meta-analysis showed patients with prior abdominal surgery were significantly more likely to experience donor-site delayed wound healing with a risk ratio of 1.27 (random 95% CI [1.00; 1.61]; I 2= 4) after adjustment for publication bias. No other complications were statistically different between groups.
Conclusion:
In patients with a history of prior abdominal surgery, abdominally based free tissue transfer is a safe and reliable option. Abdominal scars may slightly increase the risk of delayed donor-site wound healing, which can aid the surgeon in preoperative counseling.
