Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on bariatric surgery in India: An obesity and metabolic surgery society of India survey of 1307 patients.

BACKGROUND: Although safe practice guidelines were issued by the Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society of India (OSSI) in the end of May 2020, surgeons have been in a dilemma about risk of subjecting patients to hospitalisation and bariatric surgery. This survey was conducted with the objective to evaluate the risk of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection in peri- and post-operative period after bariatric and metabolic surgery (BMS). METHODS: A survey with OSSI members was conducted from 20 July 2020 to 31 August 2020 in accordance with EQUATOR guidelines. Google Form was circulated to all surgeon members through E-mail and WhatsAppTM. In the second phase, clinical details were captured from surgeons who reported positive cases. RESULTS: One thousand three hundred and seven BMS were reported from 1 January 2020 to 15 July 2020. Seventy-eight per cent were performed prior to 31 March 2020 and 276 were performed after 1 April 2020. Of these, 13 (0.99%) patients were reported positive for COVID-19 in the post-operative period. All suffered from a mild disease and there was no mortality. Eighty-seven positive cases were reported from patients who underwent BMS prior to 31 December 2019. Of these, 82.7% of patients had mild disease, 13.7% of patients had moderate symptoms and four patients succumbed to COVID-19. CONCLUSION: BMS may be considered as a safe treatment option for patients suffering from clinically severe obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due care must be taken to protect patients and healthcare workers and all procedures must be conducted in line with the safe practice guidelines.

Modified port positions for totally extraperitoneal (TEP) repair for groin hernias: our experience.

BACKGROUND: Totally extraperitoneal repair (TEP) is the preferred method of inguinal hernia repair for many surgeons worldwide. However, because of limited working space, there may be difficulties when operating on large and irreducible groin hernias and short stature patients. There are many ways in which the port positions can be modified during TEP for different kinds of hernias and according to the comfort of the surgeons. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. We describe two different variations in port placement for TEP in patients with large irreducible hernias and short stature patients. RESULTS: A total of 19 procedures were performed with these port positions. Most of these were large irreducible hernias or patients with short stature. With these modified port positions, difficult hernias could be completed with extraperitoneal approach. We had no recurrence and 5 seromas that eventually settled in 1-3 months. CONCLUSION: Modified port positions in TEP by shifting the ports farther away can be useful for hernias where the surgery is difficult due to limited working space and is a good alternative to TAPP.

Short- to Midterm Results After Posterior Component Separation with Transversus Abdominis Release: Initial Experience from India.

PURPOSE: Posterior component separation with transversus abdominis release is a new procedure and is quickly gaining popularity. It has shown promising results in terms of low recurrence rates for large and complex hernias. However, there are very little Indian data available on this to date. The purpose of this study was to assess the outcomes of the technique at three centers in India. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of the prospectively collected data. Patients with a minimum follow-up of 3 months who underwent open or minimal access posterior component separation were included. RESULTS: A total of 72 patients (open = 44, minimal access = 25, and hybrid = 3) were included in the analysis. At a follow-up ranging from 3 months to 35 months, there were two recurrences (2.78%). Surgical site occurrences were seen in 23/72 (31.9%), and surgical site infection was seen in 7/72 (9.7%). Surgical site occurrence requiring procedural intervention was 3/72 (4.2%). There were two (2.78%) mortalities in the open group due to myocardial infarction. CONCLUSION: Posterior component separation with transversus abdominis release may have advantages in terms of low recurrence in large hernias in the Indian population and can be used in carefully selected patients.

Trends and progress of bariatric and metabolic surgery in India.

Bariatric and metabolic surgery are being performed in India for 2 decades. Aim of this paper is to evaluate the changing clinical trends over the last 5 years and to present the other aspects helmed by Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society of India (OSSI) to aid the growth of research, education, data management and registry, quality control, insurance-related issues and policy change. OSSI conducts an annual survey to collect data pertaining to numbers of surgical procedures. With the approval of the executive committee, data collected from 2014 to 2018 were retrieved and analysed. 20,242 surgical procedures were performed in 2018 which is an 86.7% increase from 2014. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy continued to remain the most popular procedure, it's percent share saw a steady decline from 68 to 48%. One anastomosis gastric bypass showed an unprecedented growth from 14 to 34%. Numbers of laparoscopic Roux en y gastric bypass remained constant at 15-16%. OSSI has also initiated a COE program along with training fellowships and focus on registry and inclusion in insurance coverage. National trends over the past 5 years in bariatric surgery have shown emergence of newer procedures like OAGB, although LSG continues to be the most popular procedure performed These trends give an insight on how the field is evolving and the implications for any distinctive requirements unique to this region These will lay out important directives for not only ensuring good treatment outcomes but also increasing awareness about the disease on the whole.

Weight Regain After Bariatric Surgery-A Multicentre Study of 9617 Patients from Indian Bariatric Surgery Outcome Reporting Group.

BACKGROUND: There is little robust data on weight regain (WR) after bariatric surgery making it difficult to counsel patients regarding long-term outcomes of different bariatric procedures. The purpose of this study was to see WR in medium and long term after SG, RYGB, and OAGB in Indian population. METHODS: In a multicentre study, data on preoperative and postoperative weights over 5 years were collected. Multiple definitions were applied to find the proportion of patients with significant WR increase of 25% of lost weight from nadir (definition 1), weight gain of > 10 kg from nadir (definition 2), and BMI gain of > 5 kg/m2 from nadir (definition 3). The proportion of those with significant WR was compared across sub-groups. RESULTS: A total of 9617 patients were included. Median WR at 5 years was 14.1% of lost weight, 1.92 kg/m2, and 5 kg. Significant WR using definition 1 was 35.1%, 14.6%, and 3% after sleeve gastrectomy (SG), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), and mini-one anastomosis gastric bypass (OAGB) respectively. Severe albumin deficiency was highest in OAGB (5.9%) patients followed by SG (2.9%) and RYGB (2.2%) at 5 years(p = 0.023). Haemoglobin levels < 10 g/dL were seen in 8.2%, 9.0%, and 13.9% of SG, RYGB, and OAGB patients respectively (p = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS: In the first comparative study of WR, OAGB had lesser WR in comparison to SG and RYGB but had the most impact on Hb and albumin levels in the long term. Definition selection for reporting WR has a significant impact on the results. There is a need for standardising the reporting of WR in bariatric literature.