Concomitant Cholecystectomy for Asymptomatic Gallstones in Bariatric Surgery-Safety Profile and Feasibility in a Large Tertiary Referral Bariatric Center.

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for gallstone formation, which can be exacerbated by bariatric surgery-induced rapid weight loss. Current guidelines do not recommend concomitant cholecystectomy (CC) for asymptomatic gallstones during the bariatric surgery procedure. However, long-term follow-up studies have shown that the incidence of post-bariatric surgery symptomatic gallstones necessitating therapeutic cholecystectomy increases to 40%.

First Successful Large-Scale Introduction of an Enhanced Recovery after Bariatric Surgery (ERABS) Program in the Middle East: The Results and Lessons Learned of Tawam Hospital/Johns Hopkins, a Tertiary Governmental Center in the UAE.

Background: Although enhanced recovery after bariatric surgery (ERABS) has proven to be safe and cost-effective, this concept is relatively new in the Middle East.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of consecutive registered cohorts of patients who underwent primary and purely laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) were compared before introduction of ERABS (2010-2014) and after ERABS (2015-2017) at Tawam Hospital/Johns Hopkins, the UAE.

Results: A total of 462 eligible bariatric patients (LSG 414 and LRYGB 48) were operated on before and 1602 (LSG 1436 and LRYGB 166) after introduction of the ERABS.