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Preoperative Interventions for Patients Being Considered for Bariatric Surgery: Separating the Fact from Fiction

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Abstract

Preoperative interventions aimed at patients referred for bariatric surgery continue to divide funders, commissioners, and practitioners alike. A number of preoperative interventions and variables have been used to influence patient selection. Many of these are believed to lead to better postoperative outcomes by helping target a limited resource (bariatric surgery) at those most likely to benefit. Inevitably, this leads to competition amongst patients and some being denied benefits of surgery. There is a risk that these strategies for resource allocation may actually deprive the most vulnerable and those most in need. This review examines evidence and justification behind popular preoperative interventions for patients being considered for bariatric surgery patients in the light of published English language scientific literature.

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Abbreviations

UK:

United Kingdom

NICE:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

NHS:

National Health Service

BOMSS:

British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Author Contribution

KM conceived the idea for the topic and wrote the manuscript. All authors participated in discussions on the topic. All authors have seen the final version and approve of it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bariatric Unit, Department of Surgery, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, SR4 7TP, UK

    Kamal K. Mahawar, Chetan Parmar, William R. J. Carr, Neil Jennings, Norbert Schroeder, Shlok Balupuri & Peter K. Small

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  1. Kamal K. Mahawar
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  2. Chetan Parmar
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  3. William R. J. Carr
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  4. Neil Jennings
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  6. Shlok Balupuri
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  7. Peter K. Small
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Correspondence to Kamal K. Mahawar.

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Mahawar, K.K., Parmar, C., Carr, W.R.J. et al. Preoperative Interventions for Patients Being Considered for Bariatric Surgery: Separating the Fact from Fiction. OBES SURG 25, 1527–1533 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-015-1738-z

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