Papers presented
Pregnancy outcomes after gastric-bypass surgery

Presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Surgical Congress, Kauai, Hawaii, April 3–7, 2006
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2006.08.041Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

The purpose of this study is to compare outcomes of patients who become pregnant within the first year after surgery and those who delayed pregnancy until after 1 year after surgery.

Methods

A retrospective review was performed to identify patients who became pregnant after their gastric-bypass surgery from 2001 to 2004. Endpoints included pregnancy complications, fetal birth weight and outcome, delivery method, weight change during pregnancy, and nutrition.

Results

Of 2,423 patients who had undergone bariatric surgery from 2001 to 2004, 21 patients became pregnant within the first year after surgery and 13 became pregnant after 1 year. Similar outcomes were seen between the 2 groups regarding fetal weight, term pregnancy, and complications.

Conclusions

Pregnancy outcomes within the first year after weight-loss surgery revealed no significant episodes of malnutrition, adverse fetal outcomes, or pregnancy complications. Anxiety over poor outcomes of pregnancy during the first year after bariatric surgery can be allayed.

Section snippets

Methods and Materials

A retrospective review was performed to identify patients who became pregnant after their gastric-bypass surgery from 2001 to 2004 at a single institution. This information is maintained in a database that includes all patients that have undergone gastric-bypass surgery from 2001 to present and is regularly maintained through clinical records, surveys, and telephone interviews. Informed consent was obtained from each of the patients, and approval was obtained from the institutional review

Results

Of 2432 patients undergoing weight-loss surgery from 2001 to 2004, 34 patients reported becoming pregnant after surgery. Thirty-three patients underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, whereas 1 patient had an open procedure. Twenty-one patients became pregnant within the first postoperative year (early group), whereas 13 patients delayed pregnancy until after 1 year (late group). The early and late groups were similar in age and BMI (Table 1). During the pregnancy, all patients

Comments

The course of pregnancy within the first year after weight-loss surgery was not significantly different compared with those who became pregnant beyond the first year. Although the early group gained less weight during pregnancy, there were no statistically significant differences in regards to fetal birth weight, term pregnancy, and complications (Table 1). Prior early reports of pregnancy complications after weight-loss surgery and jejunal intestinal bypass included gastrointestinal bleeding

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