A comparative study of internal laser-assisted and conventional liposuction: a look at the influence of drugs and major surgery on laboratory postoperative values

BACKGROUND: Liposuction is a type of aesthetic surgery that has been performed on humans for decades. There is not much literature addressing the subject matter of pre- and post-surgery blood parameters, although this information is rather interesting. Documentation on patients who received laser-assisted liposuction treatment is particularly scarce. Until now, there has been no literature showing values of platelets, lymphocytes, and neutrophils after liposuction. PURPOSE: The aim of the work is to analyze and interpret values of platelets, lymphocytes and neutrophils in patient blood before and after liposuction, a surgery in which an extraordinarily large amount of potent drugs are used. Moreover, the aim is to compare values changes in patients of conventional and laser-assisted liposuction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated standard blood samples in patients prior to and after liposuction. This paper covers the number of platelets, lymphocytes, and neutrophils. A total of 54 patients were examined. Moreover, we compared the change in postoperative values in laser-assisted liposuction patients with the change of values in conventional liposuction patients. A paired two-sided Student’s t-test was used for statistical evaluation. P < 0.005 was acknowledged to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Values of platelets were raised both in conventional and in laser-assisted liposuction patients, but this difference was statistically non-significant and levels of platelets were still normal and within the range of blood levels in healthy patients. Values of neutrophils rose by up to 79.49% ± 7.74% standard deviation (SD) and values of lymphocytes dropped by up to 12.68% ± 5.61% SD. The before/after variances of conventional tumescent local anesthesia liposuction and variations in laser-assisted liposuction were similar for all measured parameters; they also showed no statistically significant differences between before and after surgery. The mean value of total operation time without laser-assistance was 3 hours 42 minutes (±57 minutes SD, range 2 hours 50 minutes to 5 hours 10 minutes). Surgeries with laser-assistance were on average 16 minutes shorter with a mean duration of 3 hours 26 minutes (±45 minutes SD, range 2 hours 40 minutes to 4 hours 10 minutes). The difference was not statistically significant (P < 0.06). The mean value of aspirate volume for liposuctions performed without laser support was 2,618 mL (±633.7 SD, range 700 mL to 3,500 mL). Mean aspirate volume for liposuctions with laser assistance was increased by up to 61 mL (2,677 mL ± 499.5 SD, range 1,800 mL to 3,500 mL). The difference was not statistically significant (P < 0.71). CONCLUSION: We conclude that conventional liposuction and laser-assisted liposuction have a similar influence on platelets, lymphocytes, and neutrophils in patients. Moreover, laser-assisted liposuction seems to be less time consuming than conventional liposuction.