Bariatric Surgery in Patients with Severe Heart Failure

Obesity and cardiac failure are globally endemic and increasingly intersecting. Bariatric surgery may improve cardiac function and act as a bridge-to-transplantation. We aim to identify effects of bariatric surgery on severe heart failure patients and ascertain its role regarding cardiac transplantation.

A retrospective study of a prospectively collected database identified heart failure patients who underwent bariatric surgery between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017. Patients were followed up 12 months post-operatively. Cardiac investigations, functional capacity, cardiac transplant candidacy, morbidity and length of stay were recorded.

Twenty-one patients (15 males, 6 females), mean age 48.7 ± 10, BMI 46.2 kg/m² (37.7–85.3) underwent surgery (gastric band (18), sleeve gastrectomy (2), biliopancreatic diversion (1)). There were no loss to follow-up. There was significant weight loss of 26.0 kg (5.0–78.5, p < 0.001), significant improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (10.0 ± 11.9%, p < 0.001) and significant reduction of 0.5 New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification (0–2, p < 0.001). Multivariate models delineated the absence of atrial fibrillation and pre-operative BMI < 49 kg/m² as significant predictors (adjusted R-square 69%) for improvement of LVEF. Mean length of stay was 3.6 days and in-hospital morbidity rate was 42.9%. One patient subsequently underwent a heart transplant, and two patients were removed from the waitlist due to clinical improvements.

Bariatric surgery is safe and highly effective in obese patients with severe heart failure with substantial improvements in cardiac function and symptoms. A threshold pre-operative BMI of 49 kg/m² and absence of atrial fibrillation may be significant predictors for improvement in cardiac function. There is a role for bariatric surgery to act as a bridge-to-transplantation or even ameliorate this requirement.