Weight-loss surgery may lead to problems

New York: People undergoing weight-loss surgery could face complications later like vomiting, reflux and diarrhoea, a US government report warns.

However, experts say that the latest procedures are safer and less invasive.

A senior economist at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, William Encinosa looked at 2,522 insurance claims for bariatric surgery, the general term for surgery to combat obesity that was done in 2001 and 2002.

Encinosa, in his report published in the August issue of Medical Care journal, says that the complication rate in the hospital was 22 per cent.

However, it went up to 40 per cent over the next six months, reported the health portal Health Day News.

The most common complications are dumping syndrome, which includes vomiting, reflux and diarrhoea; complications resulting from the surgical joining of the intestine and stomach including, leaks or strictures; abdominal hernias; infections and pneumonia, the researchers found.

"This study was done over five years ago," said president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Philip R Schauer.

"Lots of hospitals and surgeons had just begun getting into bariatric surgery at that time, and there were no standards, so one can expect a significant complication rate," he added.

"Complications are decreasing as there are more generalised standards across the country," he added.

When you look at the complications, many are minor ones, Schauer said,"For example, 19.5 percent of the complications were dumping, vomiting and diarrhoea. These are common after weight-loss surgery, self-limited and innocuous, and, in most cases, don't require medical treatment."

Today, most surgery involves a minimally invasive laparoscope procedure. "More than 60 per cent of these operations are done laparoscopically," he said.

"Within two to three years, it will be more like 90 or 95 per cent," he added.