Editor's Note A new surgical risk/benefit calculator that can predict a bariatric/metabolic patient’s possibility of postoperative remission at 1 year for five weight-related comorbidities will soon be released by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), the American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced on August 20.…

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Editor's Note This study found a trend of increasing risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) for almost all surgery types when body mass index (BMI) increased from normal to morbidly obese. Of 387,919 patients analyzed in the Dutch national surveillance network PREZIES, 1% were underweight, 30% had normal weight, 40%…

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Editor's Note Reoperations after bariatric surgery occurred mainly within the first 10 years, and revisional surgeries (ie, conversions, corrections, and reversals) were more common after banding and vertical banded gastroplasty than gastric bypass, this Swedish study finds. In this analysis of 2,010 patients with 26 years of follow-up, first-time revisional…

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Editor's Notes Though obese adults often report more postoperative pain, the same was not true for obese children in this study presented October 16 at the Anesthesiology 2018 annual meeting in San Francisco. In this analysis of 808 children who had noncardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, pain was assessed…

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Editor's Note Limited evidence exists about the comparative effectiveness and safety of bariatric surgical procedures in Medicare patients, this review study finds. Of 16 studies analyzed, researchers found that bariatric surgery overall, and in particular Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), and adjustable gastric banding (AGB) appeared to be…

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Editor's Note In this multicenter study of 7-year weight and comorbid health changes after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), most participants maintained much of their weight loss with variable fluctuations over the long term, and comorbid health improvements were sustained after RYGB. Of 2,348 participants,…

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Editor's Note A patient’s waist measurement can predict the risk of complications and death after emergency general surgery, finds this study presented October 26 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2017 in San Diego. Included in the study were 608 emergency general surgery patients who had preoperative CT…

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Editor's Note Bariatric surgery patients have a much higher rate of newly persistent postoperative opioid use than general surgery patients, finds this study presented October 23 at the American College of Surgeons 2017 Clinical Congress in San Diego. Of 14,063 bariatric surgery patients in the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative who…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 10 issued a Safety Alert to update healthcare providers on five reports of unanticipated deaths that have occurred from 2016 to the present in patients with liquid-filled intragastric balloon systems used to treat obesity. Four reports involve the Orbera Intragastric…

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Editor's Note After cardiac surgery, obese patients required significantly more ICU resources and longer recovery times, resulting in more expensive, labor-intensive care, this study finds. Of 5,365 patients included in the analysis, 1,948 were classified as obese. Patients with greater obesity were: four times more likely to have longer time…

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