Reoperative bariatric surgery

Excerpt

As in cardiac and vascular surgery, reoperations or revisions of previous failed or complicated bariatric operations have become necessary in many different situations. In this regard, nearly all general surgeons need to be at least conversant in some of these complications. Though complications of the old jejunoileal bypass are now encountered only rarely, revision of failed, previous open gastroplasties remains a common problem today, and we are now entering a new era of failed or complicated laparoscopic bariatric procedures [primarily Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), LAP-BAND] that present different variations of problems encountered after open bariatric surgery (stomal ulcers and stenosis, gastrogastric fistulas, etc.) as well as new problems (internal hernias, antiperistaltic limbs, etc.). This short piece reviews reoperative bariatric surgery primarily after prior open procedures and will use the types of complications encountered in the past to address reoperative bariatric surgery in the laparoscopic era over the last six years. …