Weight loss surgeries are relatively safer than previously thought, finds a new study.
The Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-1) revealed that short-term complications and death rates were low following bariatric surgery to limit the amount of food that can enter the stomach, decrease absorption of food or both.
Less than 1 percent of patients died within 30 days of surgery, further supporting the short-term safety of bariatric surgery as a treatment for patients with extreme obesity.
"Evaluating the 30-day safety outcomes of bariatric surgery in large populations is an essential step forward," the New England Medical Journal quoted co-author Myrlene Staten, M.D., senior advisor for diabetes translation research at NIDDK, part of NIH as saying.
"And LABS-1 data are from all patients who had their procedure performed by a surgeon participating in the study, not from just a select few patients," the expert added.
The major types of surgery undergone by participants in this study included laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
During the study, the researchers followed 4, 776 patients who had bariatric surgery for the first time, evaluating complications and death rates within the first 30 days after surgery.
Within 30 days of surgery, 4.1 percent of patients had at least one major adverse outcome, defined as death, development of blood clots in the deep veins of the legs or in the pulmonary artery of the lungs, repeat surgeries, or failure to be discharged from the hospital within 30 days of surgery.
Thirty-day mortality was low, ranging from no deaths in the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band group, to 0.2 percent in the laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass group, to 2.1 percent in those undergoing open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
The overall risk of complications also varied by procedure.
"There is a real need to determine safe and effective treatments for patients with extreme obesity and its associated medical conditions," said Susan Z. Yanovski, M.D., a co-author of the paper and co-director of NIDDK's Office of Obesity Research.
"This study's results can help patients and physicians make informed decisions about potential risks and benefits of bariatric surgery," she added.