Concomitant cholecystectomy during bariatric surgery: The jury is still out.

BACKGROUND: We sought to compare clinical outcomes of concomitant cholecystectomy during four different types of bariatric surgery vs. bariatric surgery alone. DATA SOURCES: A systematic literature search of PubMed and Cochrane databases was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Thirty studies were included in this study, reporting data on 13,675 patients. Our findings suggest a higher rate of anastomotic leak/stricture in the case of concomitant cholecystectomy with gastric bypass compared to those who had gastric bypass alone. The scarcity of data concerning sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric banding and biliopancreatic diversion prevented us from quantifying possible difference of outcomes between the examined treatment groups.
CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the small number and poor quality of available studies referring to the role of simultaneous cholecystectomy during bariatric surgery.