Comparison of Iron, Iron Binding Capacity and Ferritin Levels After Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery

Abstract

Objective: Obesity is a worldwide disease affecting more than 300 million adults, BMI greater than 30. The incidence of obesity in Turkey is increasing. Laparoscopic bariatric surgery is an effective procedure for weight loss. The aim of this study was to investigate patient nutritional deficiencies in terms of iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin parameters following laparoscopic bariatric surgery. Material and Methods: A retrospective study was done on preoperative and postoperative laboratory results of randomly selected 100 patients who underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery since 2011. Standard surgical techniques were applied in both laparoscopic gastric plication (LGP) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Results: Randomly selected 100 patients (female: male=75:25) with a mean age of 38.1 year (range:16-60). Overall average Body Mass Index (BMI) of the patients was 46.9 kg/m2. 62 of patients were applied LGP, on the other hand 38 of them were applied LSG.Iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin levels were compared preoperatively and postoperatively (3th month after operation) in both surgical techniques. Decrease in iron and total iron-binding capacity levels and increase of ferritin levels were found statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Nutritional deficiencies resulting from the bariatric surgery can be detected by routine laboratory screening. In this study we also review the current knowledge of nutritional deficits in obese patients and those that commonly appear after bariatric surgery, especially iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin levels. Our results show that supplementation should suggest routinely.