Sudden Cardiac Arrest During a Prolonged Liposuction and Lipofilling Procedure: A Case Report

Abstract

Liposuction is a popular cosmetic procedure. Recently, there has been an increase in the reported complications. Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a rare life-threatening condition with challenging diagnosis. A young lady was admitted for liposuction and lipofilling procedure. After 180 minutes, cardiac arrest happened. She was revived after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She was tachypneic, hypoxic, and feverish. Her chest x-rays were suggestive of acute respiratory distress syndrome. After exclusion of other differential diagnoses, she was diagnosed as post-arrest state on top of FES. Fortunately, she showed a gradual improvement, starting from the fourth day and was discharged to a regular ward on the sixth day. Sudden cardiac arrest during liposuction is a dreadful complication that may occur in healthy persons due to FES. Its diagnosis depends on high index of clinical suspicion and use of special criteria and scoring systems. The management depends on conservative measures with/without steroids administration.

Keywords: acute respiratory distress syndrome; cardiac arrest; corticosteroids; fat embolism syndrome; lipofilling; liposuction; post cardiac arrest syndrome.

Figure 1. Chest plain radiography (portable) showing bilateral diffuse pulmonary opacities and cardiomegaly suggestive of ARDS.

ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome