Looking at bariatric surgery with a different ‘frame’ of mind

Abstract

Our society is experiencing a pandemic of obesity, and bariatric surgery is therefore becoming more commonplace. Plastic surgery procedures to salvage functional and cosmetic repercussions of massive weight loss are also experiencing exponential growth such as resection of the panniculus morbidus following gastric bypass surgery. Suspending this mass above the patient has the clear advantage of lifting the weight from the operative field and facilitates venous drainage from the tissues to be resected. In this paper, we describe the use of an orthopaedic frame to assist with large panniculectomies. It is easily manufactured, mechanically robust, adjustable, stable, movable and removable and facilitates a sterile field without sacrificing access to adjustment and adheres to basic occupational and safety guidelines. It is easily removed and positioned and extrication is as simple as rolling it out of the field. We believe that in the exponential field of growth that is bariatric surgery producing ever increasing superfluous weight required for resection, a device such as this will prove helpful to standard plastic surgery practice after massive weight loss.