Bariatric Surgery May Improve Chances for Successful Organ Transplantation

ABC News reports on the improved chance of having successful organ transplants in patients undergoing bariatric surgery:

Gone may be the days of limiting bariatric surgery just to helping patients lose weight.

Indeed, these weight loss surgeries, in all forms, do just as the name describes. But a slew of new research suggests bariatric surgery can also be used to help reverse medical complications of obesity, not just eliminate obesity itself.

These procedures may reduce the risk of chronic disease, and even help patients better qualify for organ transplants, according to studies presented Wednesday at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery annual meeting.....

Some forms of weight loss surgery, which have grown to be less invasive and therefore less risky than procedures like transplant surgery, are not only regarded by surgeons as a way to shed dangerous pounds, but also reverse the complications of metabolic diseases.

"[Bariatric surgery] has been widely accepted in the medical field, but now we're trying to apply it to specific patient groups," said  Matthew Y.C. Lin, M.D., bariatric surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco.

In one pilot study of 26 morbidly obese patients waiting for a kidney or liver transplant, researchers at UCSF found laproscopic sleeve gastrectomy, a procedure where a majority of the stomach is removed and reshaped into a small tube or sleeve, significantly improved the chances of having successful organ transplants.

"The reason why physicians are skittish about bariatric surgery for organ transplant is that these patients have more medical comorbities," said Lin, who is the lead author of the study. "But our study shows that it is safe to proceed."

One of the patients in the study was even taken off the transplant list because his kidney function improved, according to the findings.