Surgical Treatment of Obesity

Risks and Possible Complications

The trade-off of having a gastric stapling procedure of any type is the complications associated with it. The incidence of death from the operation itself is approximately 1% or less, and 25-30% of patients will develop some form of complication after the operation. Fortunately, most of these complications are minor, consisting of wound infections, respiratory problems, hernias in the incision and vomiting.

The key complications of gastric exclusion surgery or gastroplasty are:

Those of any operation, such as: hernia formation, wound infection, bowel obstruction
Those particular to gastric surgery, such as: a leak, rupture of the staple line or widening/narrowing of the outflow
Those related to surgery in obese people, such as: respiratory problems or clots in the legs
Those related to vitamin and mineral metabolism

Life-threatening complications:

Leaks can result in severe intra-abdominal infection, abscess formation and possibly death.
Clots in the legs, because of obesity and bed rest. If these clots travel to the lungs, they can also result in death.
As with any operation, there is a risk from anesthesia, a risk of bleeding and a risk of infection.
The risks associated with transfusions, although small, should be considered. These include the transmission of hepatitis, HIV and reactions to the transfusion. If patients wish, donor-directed transfusions can be set up with the Rhode Island Blood Center. However, this does not necessarily decrease the risk. In general, these procedures do not require transfusion and are done with a minimal blood loss.

Long-term complications

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

The long-term complications of this operation are related to vitamins and minerals. Approximately 50-60% of patients will develop iron deficiency, 75% will develop low vitamin B-12 levels and 40% will develop low folate levels. These deficiencies, either alone or in combination, result in a 30-40% incidence of anemia which can be serious at times. In order to correct for these problems, patients are supplemented with daily iron, multivitamins, B-12 and folate pills. The addition of these vitamins and minerals eliminate these complications for the most part.

What are the results of these procedures? >>

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