Revision Surgery

Revision surgery is the second surgery that has to be performed after unsuccessful bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery procedures aim to make patients lose at least 70% of their excess weight in the long term. Surgery was unsuccessful if, after 18 months, the patient had lost 50% or less of their excess weight. If serious complications have developed due to the surgery or the patient has regained the weight they lost, revision surgery becomes mandatory.

After bariatric surgery, patients should gain healthy habits, stay away from a sedentary lifestyle and eat a healthy and balanced diet. Otherwise, the weight lost after the surgery is regained. After revision surgery, patients should be even more careful, and they should radically change their eating habits and make physical activity a part of their lives.

Revision surgery is always more challenging and complex than the first surgery, no matter what surgery is involved. Especially in bariatric surgery procedures, which are already difficult in the first place, it becomes even more complicated. The surgeon and his team performing the revision surgery should be experienced in this field. If the surgeon who performed your first operation is experienced in revision surgery, it would be beneficial to have the second operation performed by the same person.

In bariatric surgery, the first operation is converted to a different procedure by revision surgery. For example, sleeve gastrectomy surgery can be revised to re-sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass surgery, whereas gastric bypass surgery can be converted to a duodenal switch procedure.

Which Patients Cannot Get Revision Surgery?

After unsuccessful bariatric surgery, some criteria are sought in patients to have revision surgery. The following patients are not eligible for revision surgery:

-Patients with substance abuse,

-Patients with eating disorders,

-Patients who do not want to take vitamin and nutritional support,

-Patients with untreated reflux.

The Process

When deciding on revision surgery, it is necessary to be sure whether the reason for failure is due to the patient or the operation. The patient should also be re-evaluated by the psychiatrist/psychologist and dietitian apart from the surgeon performing the surgery. Often, patients develop stress-related eating and drinking disorders and are therefore unable to lose weight. Therefore, a thorough evaluation is of great importance for the success of revision surgery.

Although revision surgeries are complicated procedures, they have a success rate of 90-96%. After the operation, patients are called every three months in the first year and every six months in the second year. From the third year, the controls begin to be carried out annually.

Revision surgeries have a slightly higher risk than initial surgeries. After the revision surgery, there are risks such as infection and bleeding, as in the first surgery. However, this time the chances of developing complications are slightly higher. However, it should not be ignored that it is possible to avoid these complications easily, and revision surgery has an average success rate of 96%.

Patients are discharged on the 3rd or 4th day after the surgery. They can usually return to their daily lives within 7-10 days.