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Pediatric Obesity: Anesthetic Implications and Perioperative Considerations for Weight Loss Surgery

  • Pediatric Anesthesia (J Lerman, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Obesity in children and adolescents has become a common chronic illness encountered by anesthesia providers. Pediatric obesity is associated with significant comorbidities, and providing safe anesthesia for these patients is crucial. Surgical procedures for weight loss surgery are becoming increasingly common for management of this chronic pediatric illness.

Recent Findings

Bariatric surgical procedures for obese adolescents continue to evolve, and the sleeve gastrectomy has become the favored procedure for these patients. Updated medication dosing guidelines for obese patients will be reviewed.

Summary

In this article, we describe the comorbidities of pediatric obesity, discuss emerging trends in surgical weight loss techniques, review the anesthetic implications of obesity, and share postoperative pain management strategies for adolescents undergoing weight loss surgery. Finally, we share our protocol for the anesthetic management of obese children and adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery at our institution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue ML 2001, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA

    Marc Mecoli, Ali Kandil, Megan Campion & Paul Samuels

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  1. Marc Mecoli
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  2. Ali Kandil
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  4. Paul Samuels
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Correspondence to Marc Mecoli.

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Marc Mecoli, Ali Kandil, Megan Campion, and Paul Samuels declare they have no conflict of interest.

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All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by the authors have been previously published and complied with all applicable ethical standards.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pediatric Anesthesia

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Mecoli, M., Kandil, A., Campion, M. et al. Pediatric Obesity: Anesthetic Implications and Perioperative Considerations for Weight Loss Surgery. Curr Anesthesiol Rep 7, 125–134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40140-017-0211-z

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