What is the chance I can die from bariatric surgery?
What is the chance I can die from bariatric surgery?
Houston bariatric, weight loss surgeon, Brad Snyder, explains that the risk of death after bariatric surgery is really very low. This risk, called the mortality rate, ranges from 0.1 to 0.5% (that’s one in a thousand). It could be lower or higher depending on the surgeon, the practice, the hospital, and the overall experience of the bariatric doctor.
The sleeve gastrectomy and the gastric bypass operations have a higher risk than the gastric band (or lap band), because these operations involve cutting or stapling the stomach. This inherently increases the risk of complications such as bleeding or a leak from the stomach into the abdominal cavity. Nonetheless, the advances made in the technology (e.g. staplers) over the last ten years make the complication rates we see today, like mortality, much lower than we saw a decade ago.
In addition, surgeons need to be very paranoid when it comes to their patients and the risk of complications. A surgeon who identifies and treats a complication promptly will likely save his patients life.
Other complications that could cause death after these surgeries are blood clots. These can cause pulmonary embolisms which can be deadly. Precautions are made before and immediately after surgery to prevent this from happen. Blood thinners and leg compression garments are used to prevent blood clots from forming in the lower extremity. Pulmonary embolisms are not always fatal. Again, a high index for suspicion and early treatment has a profound impact on survival after a complication like this.
