Prevalence of Complications After Gastric Bypass

I recently conducted an informal poll about the prevalence of various complications after gastric bypass surgery. Because I did not specify exactly which complications I wanted to know about, some people may have listed something (like constipation) as a complication while others may not have. I just went with whatever people said. I ended up not including dumping syndrome as a complication because I know some people do consider that a complication but others do not and sometimes it's hard to even define if certain symptoms are actually caused by dumping syndrome or not.

I compared my results to the list of complications on thinnertimes.com, and found some similarities and some differences. For instance, Dr. Callery reports that strictures occur in just 1% of patients, but 16% of people that responded to this poll reported strictures. He reports that less than 1% get ulcers but I found 10% with ulcers. He reports less than 2% have leaks but I found 6% with leaks. However, I suspect that some people that had no complications declined to respond to my survey, and of course I had a much smaller sample than Dr. Callery, who surveyed all of his patients over a period of time. He did not collect data on all of the complications covered by my survey, however.

A full 32% of patients reported reactive hypoglycemia as a post- gastric bypass complication, a condition that has not been widely report on in literature about common complications of the surgery.

The development of gall stones or other gall bladder problems were reported by 26% of respondents.

Nutritional deficiencies were also reported by 26% of patients.

The development of post-surgical hernias was reported by 13% of all respondents.

Five percent reported the development of a stricture, or tightened opening between the pouch and small intestine, which had to be dilated to allow the passage of food through the digestive system.

Ten percent of respondents reported the development of kidney stones, ulcers, constipation, depression or severe nausea.

Six percent reported internal bleeding, the development of irritable bowel syndrome, post-operative leaks or post-operative infections.

Only 3% of all respondents reported low blood pressure, muscle spasms, pneumonia, the development of gastroparesis, significant malabsorption of antidepressant medications, a post-operative blood clot, skin problems after surgery, a severe allergic reaction to pain medication, the development of bulimia after surgery or the development of severe joint pain after surgery.

Only 10% reported they had experience no complications whatsoever; 90% reported that they had experienced at least one complication following gastric bypass surgery. It should be noted that some complications were much less serious than others, though.

Despite the prevalence of complications, though, 94% of respondents reported that they were pleased with their surgery and would do it all over again.