Take heart: bariatric surgery in obese patients with severe heart failure. Two case reports.

Abstract

Bariatric surgery may be an effective treatment for obese heart failure patients, enabling access to cardiac transplantation and/or improvement of symptoms. We report the outcomes of two morbidly obese patients with end-stage heart failure, where obesity precluded cardiac transplantation and underwent laparoscopic gastric banding. A 42 year-old male with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy weighing 124.4 kg (BMI 42 kg/m(2)) lost 34 kg and was successfully transplanted 11 months later. A 40 year-old woman with familial dilated cardiomyopathy weighing 105 kg (BMI 40 kg/m(2)) lost 14 kg with sufficient symptomatic resolution to no longer require cardiac transplantation. In selected patients with severe heart failure and concomitant morbid obesity, bariatric surgery may be a reasonable treatment option.

• Authors: K Samaras, S M Connolly, R V Lord, P Macdonald, C S Hayward
• Journal: Heart, lung & circulation (Heart Lung Circ) Vol. 21 Issue 12 Pg. 847-9 (Dec 2012) ISSN: 1444-2892 [Electronic] Australia
• PMID: 22743291 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)
• Copyright: Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adult
• Female
• Gastroplasty
• Heart Failure (complications, surgery)
• Heart Transplantation
• Humans
• Male
• Obesity, Morbid (complications, surgery)