Weight Loss Surgery Can Lead to Kidney Stones

Here’s another good reason for considering a Lap-Band:

The bariatric surgery known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery – the most commonly done such surgery — almost doubles a patient’s risk of developing kidney stones.

As you probably know by now, a Lap Band requires no incisions on any of your stomach or intestines and is a reversible procedure.

However, several types of weight loss surgery cut into the stomach or the lower intestines to create a smaller food pouch that can only hold tiny amounts.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine studied the medical records and insurance claims of 4,639 patients who had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Writing in a June, 200, issue of The Journal of Urology, a professional magazine for physicians, the doctors then compared the surgery group with a group of 4,639 obese patients who had no surgery.

Results?  7.65 percent of the surgery group developed kidney stones. But only 4.63 percent of the non-surgery group came up with the troublesome stones during the study period which ran from 2002 to 2006.

The researchers suspect that because Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery eliminates part of the small intestine, the procedure reduces patients ability to absorb fat – something that eventually can lead to kidney stone formation.

Lead author Brian R. Matlaga, M.D. of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute gave an interview to the Examiner.com who asked if obese patients would be better off considering a Lap Band instead.

“I think certainly it’s something that someone who looks at all these data would see is a prime area for investigation,” Dr. Batlaga said.

The article concludes that kidney stones are a possible risk that physicians should tell patients about before the surgery.

The study authors also would like to see more studies to see if diets can be changed to avoid kidney stone formation for patients who have the Roux-en-Y bypass surgery.

Download the entire obesity surgery article about Roux-en-Y bariatric bypass surgery and kidney stones for yourself or to show your Lap Band doctor.