Morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing bariatric surgery at the Hospital Nacional Itauguá: experience years 2017 to 2021

Abstract

Introduction: the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Paraguay is 58 % in the adult population, and 34.5 % in children and adolescents. There are several treatments to deal with these conditions, with surgery being the current therapeutic option that allows for the greatest weight loss and for the longest time. Objective: to describe the morbidity and mortality of bariatric procedures at the Hospital Nacional, Itauguá from January 2017 to September 2021. Metodology: descriptive, observational, retrospective cross-sectional study, with a non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases of all patients diagnosed with obesity who received surgical treatment between January 2017 and September, 2021. 126 medical records were collected, 121 of them met the inclusion criteria. Results: of 121 patients, 82 % were women and 18 % men, with a mean age of 37 years. Vertical gastrectomy was performed in 68 % and gastric bypass in 21 %, with an average hospital stay of 61 hours. Fistula was the most frequent postoperative complication (7 %) followed by anastomosis dehiscence (2 %). The morbidity of bariatric surgery was 11 %, with a mortality of 1 %. Conclusion: the morbidity of bariatric surgery at the Hospital Nacional, Itauguá is low, with an acceptable mortality rate. The most common technique is sleeve gastrectomy and fistula is the most common complication.