Study: WLS raises odds of abdominal surgery during pregnancy

I saw this and thought it was interesting...

"(Reuters Health) - Women who have had bariatric surgery are six times more likely to need abdominal surgery during pregnancy compared to obese pregnant women who haven't had a prior weight loss surgery, a recent study in Sweden suggests.

The most common reason for the abdominal surgeries was intestinal obstruction, a complication that affects 2 percent of all Swedish bariatric surgery patients, the authors note in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Past research has found that bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass, gastric banding and gastroplasty, is associated with increased risks during pregnancy of premature labor, cesarean delivery and delivering a baby that is small for gestational age.

Women may want to weigh the added risk of needing abdominal surgery during pregnancy when considering whether to wait until they have finished childbearing before having bariatric surgery, the study team writes."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-bariatric-pregnancy-surgery-idUSKBN17F24M

This is very interesting! Especially as so many women have WLS so they CAN get pregnant.

Important to note:

The study team found that about 1.5 percent of pregnant women with a history of bariatric surgery also had abdominal surgery during their pregnancy due to intestinal obstruction...

Bowel obstruction is a lifelong risk among WLS patients among WLS patients (this study cites 10% lifetime chance of obstruction among RNY patients), and it's hard to tell if pregnancy makes it more likely.

I tried to "like" but my like buttons seem to have disappeared... I think it's always helpful to have a scientist's view on these sorts of things!

Is bowel obstruction less or as common with the sleeve?

My understanding is the risk is due to weight loss. Eg when they do the surgery and they move things around they put your intestines back and tack them to fat. You lose weight fat dissapears, intestines are no longer secured.

I tried to see it as this - "6 times more likely" makes for a good headline, but even still the percentage with this complication was still quite low. But at least food for thought if you're weighing the pros and cons of pregnancy pre or post surgery.