Popularity of Laparoscopic Bariatric Procedures Has Leveled Out

A new study shows that as the number of laparoscopic bariatric procedures has risen, the in-hospital mortality rate has concomitantly dropped.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI; USA) used data from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2003-2008. The median age of patients studied who underwent bariatric surgery ranged from 42 to 45 years, with 79.2% to 82.6% being female; the proportion of Caucasians ranged from 71.3% to 78.2%. Patient characteristics, annual number of bariatric procedures, and proportion of laparoscopic cases were analyzed, and the number of surgeons performing bariatric surgery was estimated by the number of members in the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

The study found that the number of bariatric operations peaked in 2004 at 135,985 cases (63.9 procedures per 100,000 adults) and reached a plateau at 124,838 cases (54.2 procedures per 100,000 adults) in 2008. The proportion of laparoscopic bariatric operations increased from just over 20% in 2003 to more than 90% in 2008, and the in-hospital mortality rate for these procedures decreased from 0.21% to 0.10%. The researchers also identified a considerable swell in the number of bariatric surgeons during the six-year study period, increasing from 931 in 2003 to 1,819, a 95% increase. The study was published in the August 13, 2011, issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

“We’ve identified a national trend in the use of bariatric surgery that is tied to the rapid expansion of the laparoscopic approach to bariatric surgery and the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding operation,” said lead author Ninh Nguyen, MD, chief surgeon at the division of gastrointestinal surgery at UCI. “Many reports we looked at documented the long-term survival and metabolic benefits of bariatric surgery and these benefits are having an impact on patients' willingness to accept bariatric surgery as an option for the treatment of morbid obesity.”

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