Griffin Santopietro Weight Loss - Low Risks From Weight Loss Surgery
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, traced 4,776 obese adults who had weight loss surgery in 10 centers U.S. from 2005 to 2007.
In the month after surgery, less than 1% of patients died of any cause and about 4% had at least one serious complication (a life-threatening blood clot, the need for more procedures related to loss surgery weight, or death).
"The general risk of death and other adverse outcomes after bariatric surgery was low", write the researchers, who included David Flum, MD, MPH, FACS, from the Surgical Research Center for Washington University.The risks of complications were higher for extremely obese patients, patients with a history of deep venous thrombosis (deep vein clots) or pulmonary embolisms (blood clots traveling to the lungs), patients who had obstructive sleep apnea (in What breathing stops briefly during sleep), and patients who failed to walk about 200 feet before surgery.
Surgeons who performed operations were highly qualified, and the centers where operations were performed have a lot of experience with weight loss surgery, so that the results of the study can "represent a better case scenario," says a published editorial with the study.
Ideally, obesity prevention would be more effective so that people do not need weight loss surgery, "but until we reach that point, the weight of evidence indicates that bariatric surgery is safe, effective and affordable," Writes Editorial Malcom Robinson, MD, department of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
In the magazine, Robinson and several researchers release links with various medical device companies and served as specialist witnesses in legal cases involving weight loss surgery.
