Medium-term complications in patients undergoing gastric bypass

Objective: To present our experience in the clinical follow-up of patients undergoing a gastric bypass.

Method: Description of six cases under follow-up by our unit after undergoing a gastric bypass at another private centre.

Results: The 6 patients presented complications, the most notable being the death of one patient due to severe malnutrition and the need for revision surgery in another for the same reason, destabilisation of type 1 diabetes mellitus in another patient and fat-soluble vitamin deficiency in all of them.

Conclusions: There are few publications that support the safety of gastric bypass as a treatment for obesity. In our experience, it is a technique associated with a high rate of serious complications. As it is a technique that is not yet standardised, we consider that these cases should be operated on in centres where there is a multidisciplinary team with expertise in the management of possible complications, with close follow-up by surgeons and endocrinologists.