The Role of Bariatric Surgery in Abdominal Organ Transplantation-the Next Big Challenge?

Obesity is linked to inferior transplant outcome. Bariatric surgery (BS) is an established treatment of morbid obesity. We provide an overview on BS in the field of kidney (KT) and liver transplantation (LT). In end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and KT patients, BS seems safe and feasible. Complication rates were slightly higher compared to the non-transplant population, whereas weight loss and improvement of comorbidities were comparable. Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) was the preferred procedure before KT and superior to gastric bypass (GB) in regard to mortality and morbidity. If conducted after KT, both procedures showed comparable results. BS before LT was associated with high complication rates, in particular after GB. Albeit distinct complications, SG conducted after LT showed the best results. Immunosuppression (IS) changes after BS were rare.