Stomach Stapling Linked to Nerve Injury

A study has found that a significant number of patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, for weight reduction develop peripheral neuropathy, which is damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

Since the development of nerve damage is associated with malnutrition, investigators from the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) contend that the damage may be largely preventable with proper nutritional care. They found that 16% of the weight-reduction surgery patients they studied developed peripheral neuropathy, ranging from minor tingling or numbness to severe pain and weakness confining patients to wheelchairs.

"Surgeons who do weight-reduction surgery and the general public should be aware that nerve damage is a frequent consequence of the surgery,” noted lead investigator P. James Dyck, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist. "But patients who were part of nutritional programs before and after their weight-loss surgery generally didn't develop these neuropathies, so we believe the nerve damage is large preventable.”

The researchers identified four risk factors in patients who developed nerve problems: they lost weight much faster, they received less nutritional supplementation, they experienced prolonged nausea and vomiting, and they failed to attend nutritional clinics.
"The evidence is very strong that nerve complications are associated with malnutrition and neuropathy,” concluded Dr. Dyck. The findings were reported in the October 26, 2004, issue of Neurology.




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