Benefits and Risks of Bariatric Surgery in Adults: A Review (2024)

FAQs

What are the downsides of bariatric surgery? ›

Coronary heart disease was the leading cause among the 395 deaths, at 76 (19.2%) (Table 6). Sepsis (13.9%), pulmonary embolism (11.9%), therapeutic complications (11.4%), cancer (10.6%), and CHD accounted for 67.1% of all natural deaths.

The adjusted median life expectancy in the surgery group was 3.0 years (95% CI, 1.8 to 4.2) longer than in the control group but 5.5 years shorter than in the general population. The 90-day postoperative mortality was 0.2%, and 2.9% of the patients in the surgery group underwent repeat surgery.

Bariatric surgery procedures work by modifying your digestive system — usually your stomach, and sometimes also your small intestine — to regulate how many calories you can consume and absorb. They can also reduce the hunger signals that travel from your digestive system to your brain.

This surgery both limits how much you can eat and reduces the absorption of nutrients. While it is extremely effective, it has greater risk, including malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.

A sleeve gastrectomy is one of the safest weight loss surgeries. It's usually done laparoscopically (a minimally invasive procedure done with a small camera as a guide), so you'll have smaller incisions and quicker healing than with some other surgeries.

You are unlikely to regret undergoing the surgery taking into account these benefits if you have such health problems and your attempts to lose weight in other ways have been unsuccessful. Gastric sleeve surgery, however, is also associated with serious risks and side effects.

When it does fail, the majority of the time it's because the patient went back to their old eating habits. In occasional cases, the bariatric procedure may not have been effective and may warrant a revision. Such conditions include band slippage or blockage, or severe heartburn and reflux among others.

How Many Years Does a Gastric Sleeve Last? Gastric sleeve is a permanent procedure. It lasts for the rest of your life and can't be reversed.

Your stomach will not grow back into its original size. However, what may happen is that the remaining portion of your stomach may stretch or expand, just like a balloon. With a smaller stomach size and capacity, patients who undergo gastric sleeve surgery are expected to feel fuller easily even while eating less food.

What is the average age of bariatric patients? ›

According to the National Institute of Health, if someone is at least 100 pounds overweight with multiple failed attempts at losing weight, and has a BMI of 30 or higher, they could be considered a candidate. Is there an average age that people have bariatric surgery? The average age is 40 to 45 years old.

Most gastric bypass surgery is laparoscopic, which means the surgeon makes small cuts. That makes for shorter recovery time. Most people stay in the hospital for 2 to 3 days, and get back to normal activities in 3 to 5 weeks.

A gastric bypass diet follows a staged approach to help you ease back into eating solid foods. How quickly you move from one step to the next depends on how fast your body heals and adjusts to the change in eating patterns. You can usually start eating regular foods about 6 to 8 weeks after surgery.

Besides a dramatic loss of fat mass, bariatric surgery shifts the distribution of fat from visceral to the subcutaneous compartment favoring metabolic improvement.

Any patient who undergoes surgery is usually prescribed some sort of opioid to help cope with the post-operative pain, but new research suggests that bariatric patients are more likely to develop chronic opioid use, and this occurs more often in patients who had postoperative complications or lost less weight.

Summarising results obtained on a basis of the SF-36 questionnaire, the quality of life improved versus values determined before surgical treatment. The quality of life index rose from 85.2 to 145.1 points (p = 0.00). Patients post both surgeries achieved a similar end result (p = 0.61).

“In addition to weight loss, more than 95% of people who get bariatric surgery see improvement in associated medical conditions, like high blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea,” says Dr. Tatarian. If you're considering bariatric surgery, talk to your primary care provider sooner rather than later.

Weight-loss surgery can start you on the path to a healthier, longer and more fulfilling life. It is not a cure for obesity but rather a tool to help you lose weight. Long-term success depends on your ability to follow guidelines for diet, exercise and lifestyle changes.