When comparing two of the most common weight loss surgeries, a research team led by University of Michigan Health found that long-term, sleeve gastrectomy is safer than gastric bypass for Medicare patients.
Five years after each procedure, patients who’d undergone a sleeve gastrectomy, which involves removing part of the stomach, had a lower risk of death and complications than those who had chosen to have their stomachs divided into pouches through a gastric bypass surgery.
However, gastric bypass was superior in one area: Sleeve gastrectomy patients were more likely to need follow-up surgery, which could indicate that gastric bypass is more effective long-term, even though it carries more risks.
“It’s really important for patients to understand the risk of significant issues like death, complications, and hospitalization after these two procedures because that helps inform the decision about which type of bariatric surgery to choose,” said Ryan Howard, M.D., a general surgery resident at Michigan Medicine and the first author of the study.
“You could envision a scenario where a patient is averse to that risk, and so even if a sleeve gastrectomy doesn’t confer as much weight loss, they may want it because it’s the safer surgery,” Howard added. “On the other hand, if a patient has a lot of comorbidities, and a bypass is going to afford a better clinical benefit, maybe that risk is worth it.”
Short-term studies have shown that sleeve gastrectomy is the safer choice, but this study is one of the largest to analyze the outcomes of the two operations over a longer period of time.
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Journal
JAMA Surgery
Article Title
Comparative Safety of Sleeve Gastrectomy and Gastric Bypass Up to 5 Years After Surgery in Patients With Severe Obesity
Article Publication Date
6-Oct-2021
COI Statement
Dr Howard reported receiving funding from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant 5T32DK108740-05). Dr Chhabra reported receiving funding from the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation Clinician Scholars Program, the National Institutes of Health’s Division of Loan Repayment, and payments from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc. Dr Chao reported receiving funding from the Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Dr Arterburn reported receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and nonfinancial support from International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders Latin America Chapter and the World Congress for Interventional Therapy for Diabetes outside the submitted work. Dr Telem reported receiving grant K08HS025778-01A1 from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and consulting fees from Medtronic. Dr Dimick reported receiving grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, and being a cofounder of ArborMetrix Inc.