Clinical Significance of Endoscopy before Bariatric Surgery: An Experience of a Tertiary Hospital

Abstract Introduction The obesity has been found to be associated with many gastrointestinal disease conditions like GERD, Hiatus hernia and Helicobacter pylori. The choice between performing routine and selective upper endoscopy in the preoperative preparation of all obese patients presenting for bariatric surgery remains controversial. Methods We conducted a retrospective record basedstudy on 184 patients with obesity, who were undergone endoscopy before bariatric surgery over a period of 2015 to 2020 at Gastroenterology clinic, Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia. Results The highest proportion was aged between 35-44 years (36.4%) where most of them had morbid obesity (84.8%). The most common abnormal endoscopic findings were Hiatus hernia (23.4%), Gastritis (59.2%); 14.1% had duodenitis and 4.3% had ulcers. Conclusion In conclusion, according to the higher percentage of a large range of disorders in upper-GI tract in obese patients, we suggest that routine preoperative endoscopy prior in bariatric surgery patients may help in the discovery of GI pathologies that may affect not only the surgery procedure but also the bariatric follow-up.