Sleeve Gastrectomy Beneficial for Obese Kidney Transplant Candidates

FRIDAY, May 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For kidney transplant (KT) candidates with obesity, sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is effective, and a considerable proportion of patients undergo KT within 20.9 months, according to a study published in the May issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Aleksandra Kukla, M.D., from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic medical records of KT candidates with obesity who underwent SG. Weight loss, adverse health events, and the listing and transplant rates were compared for surgical and nonsurgical cohorts.

Overall, 54 patients underwent SG and 50 did not have surgery. The researchers found that during a median follow-up of 15.5 months, SG was followed by active listing in 37 patients, and 20 received KT during a median of 20.9 months after SG. In contrast, 14 and five patients in the nonsurgical cohort were listed and received KT, respectively. Surgical complications were experienced by three patients (5.6 percent). Overall hospitalization rates and adverse health outcomes did not differ between the groups, but a higher risk for clinically significant functional decline was seen in the SG cohort.

"Future efforts should be made to develop interventional trials to maximize the benefits of the procedure, which in turn may remove barriers causing clinical inertia in treating obesity in patients seeking KT," the authors write.

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