Missing something? A scoping review of venous thromboembolic events and their associations with bariatric surgery. Refining the evidence base

Walid El Ansari; Kareem El-Ansari

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2020.08.014

Missing something? A scoping review of venous thromboembolic events and their associations with bariatric surgery. Refining the evidence base

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2020 Aug 17:59:264-273. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.08.014. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Walid El Ansari^{1

2

3}, Kareem El-Ansari⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Hamad General Hospital, 3050, Doha, Qatar.
² College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
³ Schools of Health and Education, University of Skovde, Skövde, Sweden.
⁴ Volunteer, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, 3050, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

Background: Venous thromboembolic events (VTE) post-bariatric surgery (BS) lead to morbidity and mortality.

Methods: This scoping review assessed whether reported VTE post-BS could be under/over-estimated; suggested a possible number of VTE post-BS; appraised whether VTE are likely to decrease/increase; examined BS as risk/protective factor for VTE; and mapped the gaps, proposing potential solutions.

Results: VTE appears under-estimated due to: identification/coding of BS and VTE; reporting of exposure (BS); and reporting of outcomes (VTE). The review proposes a hypothetical calculation of VTE post-BS. VTE are unlikely to decrease soon. BS represents risk and protection for VTE. Better appreciation of VTE-BS relationships requires longer-term strategies.

Conclusion: VTE are underestimated. Actions are required for understanding the VTE-BS relationships to in order to crease VTE by better-informed prevention strategy/ies.

Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Policy; Porto/ mesenteric venous thrombosis; Post-operative; Pulmonary embolism; Upper extremity; Venous thromboembolism.

Publication types

Review