Is The Gastric Bypass Risk Figure Of 40 Percent Accurate?

Anyone thinking about having gastric bypass surgery doesn’t simply want to know the risks involved, but also wants to know just what their chances are of running up against these risks.

In most cases the answer which patients receive is that they have an approximately 40% chance of encountering complications either during surgery or in post-operative period. But is this figure accurate?

The answer, according to a recently published report is yes. This study, which examined over 2,500 insurance claims from gastric bypass patients who had surgery during 2001 and 2002, found that some 20% of patients ran into complications during surgery and this figure rose to 40% when examining claims for a period of six months following surgery.

But does this figure accurately reflect what patients should expect today?

To answer this question you need to begin by considering the complications which the study took into account in reaching its findings. The study included such things as leakage and strictures arising as a direct result of surgery as well as dumping syndrome, reflux, vomiting and diarrhea following surgery.

The post-surgical complications noted here accounted for almost half of all the complications encountered and, in most cases, they were minor, transitory and didn’t need medical treatment. In effect, they were simply the normal result of weight loss surgery and could be compared to the risk of getting a sore and stiff arm after having a vaccination.

Additionally, you need to consider the time frame for the data used in this study. During 2001/2002 when the study data was being collected many hospitals were just beginning to carry out weight loss operations and there were few agreed standards for such surgery. The majority of the surgery carried out was also open surgery from which complications such as leakage and strictures were not uncommon.

Nowadays, there are many more weight loss surgeries being performed and robotic and laparoscopic surgeries, as well as gastric banding and procedures such as adjustable laparoscopic gastric banding, which was approved by the FDA for use in the USA in 2001, are now being carried out routinely.

These procedures themselves carry risks, but these risks are quite different both in nature and frequency to those which are seen in open surgery.

At present approximately 60% of all weight loss surgery is performed laparoscopically and this figure is likely to rise within the next two or three years to 90% or 95%.

So what is the risk posed by gastric bypass surgery today?

We don’t really know the answer to this question because there are currently no publicly available figures. However, one thing is certain and this is that the true figure is undoubtedly well below the 40% figure which is often quoted.