Table 3.
Occurrence of Complications in 4 Studies Reporting on Complications
| Study Reference | Seroma | Postoperative Bleeding | Infection | Skin Slough/Necrosis | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PF Preservation | PF Removal | P | PF Preservation | PF Removal | P | PF Preservation | PF Removal | P | PF Preservation | PF Removal | P | |
| Dalberg et al14 | n = 31* (31.0%) | n = 39* (39.8%) | 0.20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Abdelhamid et al10 | n = 2 (5.6%) | n = 9 (24.3%) | 0.025 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sandelin et al16 | — | — | — | n = 2 (1.1%)† | — | — | n = 5 (2.7%)† implant loss n = 3 (1.6%) |
- | — | — | — | — |
| Salgarello et al13 | n = 3 (1.3%) | — | — | n = 6 (2.7%) | — | — | n = 13 (6.4%) implant loss n = 2 (0.9%) |
— | — | n = 17 (8%) | — | — |
*Measured in the part of the total study sample also enrolled in the drainage trial. In the drainage, trial patients were randomized between axillary drainage <24 hours regardless of drain production (n = 99) or drainage until drain production <40 cc/24u (n = 99).
†Measured in the n = 188 with implant reconstruction. The n = 13 with TRAM reconstruction were left out of this table since it is impossible to know if complications are due to the mastectomy or TRAM reconstruction based on the current information provided.