The Impact and Effectiveness of Weight Loss on Kidney Transplant Outcomes: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic that leads to several non-communicable illnesses, including chronic kidney disease (CKD). Diet and lifestyle modifications have shown a limited impact in the treatment of obesity. Because the group of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients examined in this study had limited access to kidney transplantation (KT), patients with obesity were thought to be at an increased risk of intraoperative and postoperative KT complications. Although bariatric surgery (BS) is now recognized as the gold standard treatment for morbid obesity, its role in ESRD or kidney transplant patients remains unknown. It is critical to know the correlation between weight loss and complications before and after KT, the impact of the overall graft, and patients’ survival. Hence, this narrative review aims to present updated reports addressing when to perform surgery (before or after a KT), which surgical procedure to perform, and again, if strategies to avoid weight regain must be specific for these patients. It also analyzes the metabolic alterations produced by BS and studies its cost-effectiveness pre- and post-transplantation. Due to the better outcomes found in KT recipients, the authors consider it more convenient to perform BS before KT. However, more multicenter trials are required to provide a solid foundation for these recommendations in ERSD patients with obesity.