Gastric Bypass Complications Need To Be Viewed Over A Reasonably Long Time Frame

Gastric bypass surgery (which is also known as weight loss or bariatric surgery) is helping tens of thousands of severely obese people to lower their risk from life-threatening conditions like high blood pressure and to regain much of their former lifestyle. Problems arising from gastric bypass surgery can however be substantial and have to be taken into consideration before electing surgery.

A variety of studies have been carried out looking into gastric bypass complication rates in the short-term and these generally follow patients for about 30 days after their procedure. However, a more recent study (looking at claims for both hospital and outpatient care for over 5,000,000 people enrolled in employment health plans across forty-nine states and including more than 2,500 weight loss patients) has extended the findings of prior studies to look in detail at complications experienced up to 6 months after surgery.

The study showed that death occurred during surgery, or in the 6 months following the procedure, in just 0.2% of patients and that the most commonly seen complications were dumping syndrome (vomiting, reflux and diarrhea) which occurred in approximately 20% of cases, anastomosis problems (leakage or restriction arising at the join between the stomach and intestine) which was seen in about 12% of cases, abdominal hernias in approximately 7% of cases, infections in approximately 6% of cases and pneumonia which happened in about 4% of patients.

The study also revealed that approximately 10% or those people who survived the first 30 days after surgery without complication subsequently experienced problems in the next 5 months. In most cases these problems consisted of dumping, anastomosis problems, abdominal hernia, and ulcers. Additionally, despite the fact that just under 5% of patients had to be re-admitted to hospital during the first 30 day period, this figure increased to just over 7% when looking at the longer 6 month timeframe.

The cost of gastric bypass surgery was also increased considerably by problems and, while patients experiencing surgery free of complication paid in the region of $25,000, problems within the 6 month post-surgical period increased this to roughly $36,500. In cases where patients needed to be re-admitted to hospital as a result of gastric bypass complications the cost increased to just over $65,000.

Bariatric surgery is very much the start of the weight loss process and, as opposed to many forms of surgery which cure the problem instantly, the results of weight loss surgery take time to show. It is not surprising therefore that complications arise after surgery and these complications must be considered carefully before you take any decision to embark on this particular journey.