Enhanced Recovery After Revisional Bariatric Surgery: a Retrospective Study of 321 Patients with Laparoscopic Conversion of Failed Gastric Banding or Failed Mason Gastroplasty to Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.

Ruyssers, Michael; Gys, Ben; Jawad, Rami; Mergeay, Matthias; Janssen, Luc; Van Houtert, Cathy; Gys, Tobie; Lafullarde, Thierry

PURPOSE With the rising incidence of failed bariatric procedures, the importance of revisional surgery has been increasing. These revisional procedures come with a higher risk of complications leading to longer hospital stays. We believe though that enhanced recovery after revisional bariatric surgery is possible and needs to be advocated. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively analyzed our laparoscopic conversions of failed gastric banding and failed Mason gastroplasty to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. A total of 321 patients was included in the study, from February 2010 until December 2019. The primary endpoints were length of stay (LoS), in-hospital complication rate, and early readmission rate (< 30 days). Logistic regression was used to investigate the impact of several independent variables on complication and readmission rates. RESULTS Fifty-four patients were male and 267 female. The mean age was 44.2 years and mean BMI at the time of conversion was 37.9 kg/m2. We converted 273 failed adjustable gastric bandings (85,0%) and 48 failed Mason gastroplasties (15.0%). The main reason for conversion was the recurrence of obesity. A mean LoS of 2.10 days was calculated. We had an overall in-hospital complication rate of 3.73% and the overall early readmission rate was 3.43%. The odds ratio for LoS on early readmission is 1.52 (p=0.0079; CI 95% [1.12-2.07]). CONCLUSION The above data imply that the implementation of advanced ERAS principles for revisional surgery in our center is safe and does not lead to a higher risk of early readmission.