Choice of bariatric and metabolic surgical procedures

Abstract

Bariatric and metabolic surgery has become the clinical hot topic of the treatment of metabolic syndromes including obesity and diabetes mellitus, but how to choose the appropriate surgical procedure remains the difficult problem in clinical practice. Clinical guidelines of American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery(ASMBS)(version 2013) introduced the procedures of bariatric and metabolic surgery mainly including biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch(BPD-DS), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy(LSG). To choose the appropriate bariatric and metabolic procedure, the surgeons should firstly understand the indications and the contraindications of each procedure. Procedure choice should also consider personal condition (body mass index, comorbidities and severity of diabetes), family and socioeconomic status (postoperative follow-up attendance, understanding of potential surgical risk of gastrectomy and patient's will), family and disease history (patients with high risk of gastric cancer should avoid LRYGB; patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease should avoid LSG) and associated personal factors of surgeons. With the practice of bariatric and metabolic surgery, the defects, especially long-term complications, of different procedures were found. For example, LRYGB resulted in higher incidence of postoperative anemia and marginal ulcer, high risk of gastric cancer as well as the requirement of vitamin supplementation and regular follow-up. Though LSG has lower surgical risk, its efficacy of diabetes mellitus remission and long-term weight loss are inferior to the LRYGB. These results pose challenges to the surgeons to balance the benefits and risks of the bariatric procedures. A lot of factors can affect the choice of bariatric and metabolic procedure. Surgeons should choose the procedure according to patient's condition with the consideration of the choice of patients. The bariatric and metabolic surgery not only manages the diabetes mellitus and weight loss, but also results in the reconstruction of gastrointestinal tract and side effect. Postoperative surgical complications and nutritional deficiency should also be considered. Thereby, individualized bariatric procedure with the full consideration of each related factors is the ultimate objective of bariatric and metabolic surgery.