Complications in obesity surgery 'can be prevented'

MAJOR improvements are being made in the safety of surgery to tackle obesity, Yorkshire specialists have said.

As concerns grow over the scale of the obesity epidemic, demand is soaring for procedures designed to curb the amounts people can eat.

Only 280 operations were carried out in England eight years ago, but in 2009-10 nearly 1,000 severely obese people are expected to go under the knife in Yorkshire alone.

Obese patients are at higher risk during surgery because of

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

complications due to their weight, but yesterday surgeons at the private Nuffield Hospital in Leeds said the latest findings from their work suggested problems could be successfully predicted and prevented.

There was one fatality among the 381 NHS and private patients undergoing obesity surgery in the year to September. Overall, 19 suffered adverse outcomes, which also included being returned to the operating theatre, being readmitted to hospital, blood clots or blood transfusions.

The heaviest patient weighed 44 stone, although the average weight of patients, who were aged from 19 to 67, was 20 stone.

Five factors increase the risks to patients, including being aged over 45, being male, having a body mass index of more than 50 (30 is obese), high blood pressure, and being at higher risk of blood clots.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Consultant bariatric surgeon Abeezar Sarela, who works at the Nuffield and St James's Hospital, said those in the highest risk group had the most problems, including the one fatality.

Patients with one or fewer risk factors had a complication rate of four per cent, those with two or three had one of six per cent but those with four or more, accounting for only four per cent of the total, had complications at a rate of 23 per cent.

He said the findings suggested patients could be better counselled about complications. Most were in low or medium risk groups, while those at highest risk could be monitored more closely and given targeted help.

"There is a steeply rising incidence of obesity in UK and this is associated with life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease," he added.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"When I started working as a consultant in Leeds six years ago this was a procedure very much at the margin. From that we've moved to a point where this is mainstream now.

"Our data shows obesity surgery can be safely and effectively delivered and that risks from surgery can be quite accurately predicted in advance of the operation."

The Leeds team, also including top surgeons Prof Michael McMahon and Simon Dexter and bariatric dietician Mary O'Kane, presented five papers at the inaugural meeting of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society in London.

The Royal College of Surgeons said this week that access to NHS-weight loss surgery was "inconsistent and unethical", with some obese patients effectively being made to eat more to get an operation.