Abdominoplasty With Progressive Tension Sutures Versus Conventional Abdominoplasty: A Comparative Study at a
Víctor C Ledezma Rodríguez1, Sandra A López1, Alejandro González Ojeda2
1From the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Centro Médico Nacional de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Department Surgical Clinics, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Background:
Abdominoplasty is a cosmetic surgery that improves the appearance of the abdominal contour. Among the techniques used to reduce complications are progressive tension sutures (PTSs), which involve the use of sutures that fix a flap at several points to the underlying tissue.
Methods:
A nonrandomized clinical trial was performed from April 1 to November 30, 2023. Patients older than 18 years who underwent abdominoplasty were included. The variables studied were age, body mass index, comorbidities, surgical time, and postoperative complications.
Results:
Twenty-eight patients were included, 14 with conventional closure and 14 with PTSs closure, with a mean age of 37.6 (SD 9.1) years and 39.9 (SD 6.8) years, respectively. In the conventional closure group, 3 (21.3%) patients presented complications, 2 (14.3 %) presented seromas, and 1 (7.1%) presented wound dehiscence, whereas the PTS group did not present any complications (P = 0.067). A mean operative time of 137.8 (SD 16.6) minutes was found for conventional closure and 167 (SD 12.0) minutes for PTS closure (P ≤ 0.001).
Conclusions:
Our study showed that the technique with PTS did not present complications compared with the conventional closure. Our results are comparable with the literature.
