Review article: Postoperative bariatric patients in the emergency department: Review of surgical complications for the emergency physician

Abstract

With the rise of obesity in adult populations in the western world there has been a concurrent rise in bariatric procedures to address this problem. Although the safety of bariatric procedures has improved significantly over the past 20 years, there are still a number of serious surgical complications that can occur in the postoperative period that emergency physicians need to be familiar with. These complications can have subtle presentations that if unrecognised can go on to cause morbidity and mortality. This review will cover the more common bariatric procedures that are being performed today. It will discuss the complications, clinical presentations and management of these patients that emergency physicians should be familiar with.