Background: Few previous studies have assessed the safety of bariatric surgery in septuagenarians.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of all patients 70 years or older who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy at our institution between 2012 and 2017 was performed. This group was compared to a matched cohort of younger LSG patients (18-50 years) who were operated during the same time period.
Results: Thirty septuagenarian LSG patients were compared to 60 younger patients. Gender distribution, preoperative weight, and preoperative body mass index (BMI) were comparable, although patients in the older age group suffered from more preoperative comorbidities (100 vs. 51.7%, p < 0.001). Operative time was longer (77.2 vs. 57.3 min, p = 0.005) and more hiatal hernias were repaired (46.7 vs. 8.3%, p < 0.001) in the older age group. Intraoperative complications occurred more in the older age group (6.7 vs. 0%, p = 0.04) but the overall complication rate (13.3 vs. 5.0%, p = 0.17) and the postoperative complication rate (10.0 vs. 5.0%, p = 0.38) were comparable. After a mean follow-up period of 31.3 and 33.5 months, the percentage of total body weight loss was 24.6 and 28.3% for the older and younger patients, respectively (p = 0.11). Rates of improvement/remission of comorbidities were comparable between the groups.
Conclusions: In a carefully selected group of severely obese patients ≥ 70 years old, LSG may be safe, with acceptable postoperative complication rates, weight loss results, and improvement in comorbidities.
Keywords: 70; Bariatric surgery; Elderly; Septuagenarians; Seventies; Sleeve.