Thoracic complications in bariatric surgery patients

Abstract

Obesity is a health issue that can lead to medical and psychological problems. Recently, bariatric surgery has become the best choice for treatment of selected candidates. As the number of bariatric surgeries increases, various related postoperative complications are being encountered. Most studies have been concerned with abdominal complications and thoracic complications were beyond their scope. The aim of this report was to review thoracic complications following bariatric surgery, in terms of incidence, management, and outcome. A literature search of English language published data concerning thoracic complications related to or following bariatric surgery was performed in November 2018. A total of 10,145 results were found. After screening titles and abstracts, 10,060 noneligible publications were excluded. Eighty-five publications were potentially eligible and their full texts were analyzed. After excluding overlapping series of patients, 44 studies were selected. These included 934 patients. Females accounted for 87.9% of the included patients. Ages ranged between 21 and 64 years (mean 43.86 ± 4.4 years). Most frequently encountered complications were esophageal (80.84%) followed by pulmonary (17.45%). The majority of esophageal complications were functional (82.38%) in contrast to the pulmonary type that were mostly organic (87.73%). There were 5 documented deaths. We concluded that thoracic complications are not infrequent after bariatric surgery. Esophageal and pulmonary are the most common thoracic complications reported. The outcome is usually favorable. Mortality may be avoided when complications are detected early and well-managed.