Benefits to Losing Weight Prior to Weight Loss Surgery

If you’re planning on having bariatric surgery, such as the Lap Band procedure in Orlando, losing weight prior to your procedure could reduce your risk of surgery complications, according to a new study.

The study involved examining medical records of 881 patients who had bariatric surgery. The analysis indicated that the more pounds shed prior to surgery, the less likely the patient was to suffer from post-operative complications, such as blood clots, kidney problems, or infections.

Medical records of these 881 patients indicated that pre-op weight changes ranged from modest weight gain to more than a 10 percent excess body weight loss. The complication rate for patients who put on more pounds before surgery was almost twice as high as those who lost weight prior to their operation. Further, the study revealed that patients who had undergone more invasive open surgery were at a higher risk of post-surgery complication, whether they lost or gained weight.

The popularity of bariatric surgery has been increasing recently, along with the number of older and less healthy patients seeking weight-loss surgery. Physicians need to identify risk factors for these high-risk weight-loss surgery candidates to prepare them for a successful surgery. Researchers point to this study, suggesting that pre-surgery weight loss may help to achieve a more favorable weight loss outcome with fewer complications in these high-risk patients.

Today, some bariatric surgeons actually require some high-risk candidates to lose weight before their surgery, while other surgeons believe a pre-surgery weight loss requirement may deter very overweight or obese people from pursuing the operation. More research is needed to assess the long-term effect of weight-loss prior to surgery.