Risk of Heart Attack after Liposuction

You seem to be asking if removing fat cells which can act as storage for fat increases the risk of heart attack. If this is what you are asking, the answer is no. The risk of heart attack is determined by what you eat. Even with fewer cells to store fat from the diet, the body will store whatever you ingest. There is, however, an increased risk of heart attack or other problem of vascular collapse associated with liposuction. This has to do with how the procedure is done. Lidocaine (an anesthetic) and epinephrine are injected into the area of liposuction during the procedure. Both are toxic to the heart in significant doses. The body also tries to replace the fat that is removed with fluid. This fluid comes from the blood. If one removes enough fat without replacing the fluid the body shifts into the operative area, you can go into shock and, even, die. This is why it is important to make sure your surgeon has privileges at a reputable hospital to do liposuction, even the procedure is done in the office. It is also much safer to have an anesthesiologist monitoring you. If you are to have more than about 4000 cc (and, absolutely, at 5000 cc) removed, you need to stay in the hospital overnight to be monitored. With care, however, liposuction is very safe. Although studies a number of years ago showed a death rate of 1 in 5000 cases (a very high rate), subsequent studies showed the procedure, when done in a hospital with an anesthesiologist and using other precautions, was no more risky than a hernia operation.