Do Closed Suction Drains Affect the Complications Rate of Breast Reconstruction With Silicone Prosthesis?

Breast reconstruction with silicone prosthesis can be divided into two groups: immediate and late reconstructions. The complications rates reported in the literature are around 30% for delayed reconstructions and 50% for immediate reconstructions. The estimated surgical site infection rate is approximately 7% and seroma formation rate is approximately 1.2%.

In many of the procedures closed suction drains are left for fluid drainage, in order to reduce seroma formation. Still, the timing of drains' removal is controversial. Our aim in this study is to describe the relation between the placement of closed suction drains, the timing for their removal, and immediate post operative complications.

Patients that underwent breast reconstruction with silicone prosthesis and in which drains will be left in the surgical field would be randomly assigned into two groups: a control group, in which drains will be removed when the daily discharge will be below 20 cc for two consecutive days and the study group, in which drains will be removed on post operative day (POD) 10. All patients will receive the same antibiotic prophylaxis regimen. Cultures will be taken from fluid discharge POD 4,8,10 and 12. The incidence of local wound complications such as infection, seroma, hematoma and skin necrosis was record and analyzed.