An anesthesiologist's perspective of lipoplasty.

Pulmonary edema and local anesthetic toxicity are potential complications of the use of large volumes of infiltrate during lipoplasty. In most patients, these unfavorable developments are prevented by physiologic and pharmacologic mechanisms. The latter may be inadequate in some patients, however, and it is imperative to identify and monitor those patients to minimize their high risk for fluid overload or CNS toxicity.