Tummy Tuck: If you are healthy and cleared for plastic surgery, what can cause cardiac arrest during the actual procedure?

Hello, cardiac arrest is rare in a healthy person during tummy tuck surgery (or any elective procedure).  There are multiple potential causes of cardiac arrest during surgery, such as anaphylactic reaction or other adverse reaction to a drug, low oxygen (hypoxia), fat embolism during surgery (if your tummy tuck includes liposuction), severe blood loss, etc.  This is not an exhaustive list, but fortunately cardiac arrest is not common during surgery on a healthy patient.

Thank you for sharing your question and I can understand your apprehension.  If you are deemed an appropriate candidate and are otherwise healthy the risk of a cardiac arrest is very small.  Most likely this would be the result of some unforeseen circumstance such as an allergic reaction to anesthesia.