Two years after bariatric surgery, patients also experience loss of bone mass according to the results of a study unveiled at the joint conference of the International Society of Endocrinology in Chicago (Illinois, USA). This type of operation therefore requires real medical monitoring.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston followed 50 obese patients for two years, 30 of whom were operated on and 20 lost weight without surgery.
Bone loss noticed two after the operation
The patients received calcium and vitamin D in the form of food supplements. Two years later, the bone density of the operated patients was 5 and 7% lower for the spine and 7 to 10% lower for the hip than that of obese unoperated patients.
The decrease in bone density persists for two years after the operation when the patient’s weight has stabilized.
“The problem is not with weight loss, but with another aspect of the surgery,” explains endocrinologist and lead author of the study, Dr. Elaine Yu. ‘not reach the stage of osteoporosis, patients may be at increased risk of bone fracture,’ she confirms.
Bariatric surgery is a procedure that promotes weight loss by altering the anatomy of the digestive system, and limits the amount of food that can be eaten and digested.
The medical hypothesis put forward by the researcher is that the major changes in gastrointestinal hormones and fat, which occur immediately after the bariatric surgery, could affect the bone. “Bone health should be closely monitored in patients who have undergone bariatric surgery for at least two years,” concludes the researcher.
In France, obesity surgery is offered to patients whose BMI is greater than 40 or greater than 35 with an associated risk factor (hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, asthma, etc.) and this only in the event of failure after 6 months of well-conducted medical treatment . In 2012, 30,000 patients underwent obesity surgery.
