Early and late complications arising from various bariatric surgical procedures in a tertiary center in Saudi Arabia

Background Individuals who are obese or morbidly obese face a significantly higher risk of experiencing postoperative complications. To evaluate high-risk patients undergoing bariatric surgery and mitigate the likelihood of further postoperative complications, various indicators are utilized. There are no prior reports about bariatric surgical procedures-related early/late complications that came out from the western region of Saudi Arabia. Aim This retrospective study aims to evaluate both short-term and long-term postoperative complications after several bariatric surgeries, including sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and revisional bariatric surgery. Patients and methods The assessment of complications in 328 patients who underwent bariatric surgery involved analyzing demographic data, medical and surgical history, preoperative and postoperative BMI, histopathologic findings, and early and late complications. These data were obtained from a prospectively maintained database. Results Of the total participants, 241 underwent sleeve gastrectomy, 43 underwent gastric bypass, and 44 had revisional bariatric surgery. Complication rates varied among the different bariatric surgeries. Specifically, SG patients had the lowest early major complication rate (2.1%), while gastric bypass patients had a rate of 4.7%. Conversely, the ‘revisional’ operations reported the highest rate of early complications at 9.1%. Late complications demonstrated varying rates, with sleeve gastrectomy patients experiencing the highest incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease at 39%, and gastric bypass patients showing the highest rate of nutritional deficiency at 58%. Conclusion The study found that the baseline characteristics of patients did not exert a statistically significant influence on the occurrence of postoperative complications. However, different types of bariatric surgeries presented varying complication rates. Patients who underwent gastric bypass tended to have the highest rate of nutritional deficiency, while sleeve gastrectomy patients exhibited the highest rate of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Selecting the appropriate bariatric surgical procedure warrants careful consideration of patients’ preferences, demographic characteristics, presence of other medical conditions, and a comprehensive understanding of the potential advantages and disadvantages of each surgical option. Collectively, our findings would help discussing the expected outcome with the patients before surgery.