Breast reduction: does the tumescent technique affect reimbursement?

Background: Breast reduction is a very common procedure within the field of plastic surgery, with many techniques. These techniques include differences in the location of the pedicles and of the scars. Another variation on the technique for breast reduction relates to preoperative infiltration of an epinephrine solution to reduce blood loss and operative time. The authors' technique for breast reduction and its effect on insurance reimbursement has not previously been discussed in a large prospective study.

Methods: The authors performed a prospective study to compare a cohort of 50 patients undergoing a traditional breast reduction without infiltration of epinephrine followed by electrocautery for resection versus 50 patients receiving tumescent infiltration of epinephrine followed by sharp resection.

Results: The patients who underwent the tumescent technique for breast reduction had shorter operative times and similar blood loss and pain compared with the traditional technique. The use of tumescence did not cause a significant difference in the weight of the amount resected when compared with the dry, pathologic weight.

Conclusions: In the first large prospective cohort study involving this technique, the authors can demonstrate the many advantages of the tumescent technique and refute their concern that tumescence can cause inaccurate weight measurements that might interfere with insurance reimbursement based on resected weight.