Management of Laryngotracheal Stenosis in Obesity. Is This Another Co-morbidity that Can Be Improved with Weight Loss Following Bariatric Surgery?

PURPOSE: Bariatric surgery improves several obesity-related comorbidities. Laryngotracheal stenosis is a rare condition that is usually managed with repeated endoscopic airway interventions and reconstructive airway surgery. The outcome of these definitive operations is worse in individuals with obesity. There are no studies investigating the effect of weight loss following bariatric surgery in the management of laryngotracheal stenosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In an observational study, consecutive patients with a BMI over 35 kg/m2 and laryngotracheal stenosis were prospectively recruited to a bariatric and airway stenosis database in two tertiary care centres. Patients were treated with laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy and control subjects were managed conservatively. RESULTS: A total of eleven patients with an initial body mass index of 43 kg/m2 (37-45) were enrolled to this study. Six patients underwent bariatric surgery and five subjects were treated conservatively. After 12 months, the total weight loss of patients undergoing bariatric surgery was 19.4% (14-24%) whilst 2.3% (1-3%) in the control group. The annual number of endoscopic airway interventions following bariatric surgery reduced (p = 0.002). Higher weight loss in patients led to less frequent interventions compared to control subjects (p = 0.004). Patients undergoing laryngotracheal reconstruction following bariatric surgery needed less endoscopic intervention, an annual average of 1.9 interventions before vs 0.5 intervention after. Conservatively managed control subjects required more frequent endoscopic intervention, 1.8 before vs 3.4 after airway reconstruction. CONCLUSION: Bariatric surgery reduced the number of endoscopic airway interventions and enabled patients to undergo successful definitive airway reconstructive surgery.

Expanding the donor pool: living donor nephrectomy in the elderly and the overweight.

BACKGROUND: Increasing demand for donor kidneys, in parallel with trends toward more elderly and obese populations, make it important to continuously review donor pool inclusion criteria. Acceptance of elderly and obese living donors remains controversial, with a higher incidence of comorbidity and the greater risk of postoperative complications sighted as reasons for caution. Drawing on our center's experience, we aim to determine whether older age and obesity are in fact associated with greater perioperative risk, and longer term complications in donors undergoing nephrectomy. METHODS: Three hundred eighty-three living donor nephrectomies conducted at one of the United Kingdom's largest transplant units over the last 5 years were stratified into groups according to age and body mass index. Perioperative endpoints and postdonation follow-up data collected at 6-to-12-monthly intervals were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: No significant differences in operative parameters, including operative time and estimated blood loss, were reported between groups. Rates of early postoperative complications were not significantly different, although subgroup analysis showed a higher incidence of respiratory complications at the extremes of obesity (body mass index ≥ 40 kg/m²). On follow-up, renal function parameters showed significant change postnephrectomy, but between-group variation was not significant. Mortality and major complication rates were comparably low in all groups of study. CONCLUSIONS: In our unit's experience, nephrectomy in selected donors who may otherwise have been precluded from participation on account of their age or weight, is feasible and associated with perioperative and longer term outcomes comparable with their younger nonobese counterparts. It provides a basis for informed consent of "extended criteria" donors.