Pregnancy Following Bariatric Surgery
JL Good

Defined Tag: bariatric weight loss surgery.

Since many obese women have difficulty getting pregnant until they lose their
excess weight, weight loss surgeries offer these women some hope of having a
family. Obesity is associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO syndrome), a
condition that alters the hormonal balance and causes irregular ovulation.
Menstruation is also irregular, and cysts may form on the ovaries, which become
enlarged. Some women with this syndrome do not ovulate at all.

Weight loss is the best treatment for PCO syndrome, and obese women who lose
their excess weight usually regain their fertility.

However, at this time, there have been no carefully controlled studies to
help physicians counsel their post-surgical patients who become pregnant. This
means that it isn't truly known how long one should wait after gastric bypass
surgery before conceiving, and obstetricians don't really know the ramifications
of a post-surgical pregnant woman who continues to lose excess weight while
pregnant.

According to Dr. Mary McGowan, who helped develop the bariatric surgery
program at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, clinical
findings show that post-surgical women are much less likely to experience the
complications associated with diabetes and high blood pressure, and they should
experience fewer premature births than obese women who become pregnant before
losing weight. However, more studies are needed.

To help fill in some of the gaps in the medical knowledge, the records of 846
women who became pregnant after bariatric surgeries were studied.

Dr. Richard N. Wissler was the researcher who sifted through the data. He
concluded that the outcomes of pregnancy after weight loss surgery are positive,
on the whole. However, he suggested that women who become pregnant after
bariatric surgery should be monitored closely for nutritional deficiencies that
are a common complication of the procedures, and they should stay in touch with
their surgical center.

The doctor's review of the data found that cesarean sections were performed
on 27% of the women whose records were included in the study. This rate of
cesarean births is about the same as for women who have not had weight loss
surgery.

One-third as many post-surgical women had diabetes, and high blood pressure
rates were approximately half that of women who had not had gastric bypass
procedures. Both these conditions can cause difficulties during pregnancy.

However, there were some reported complications that could be associated with
gastric bypass. Nine women in the study had nutritional deficiencies, and one
mother and her fetus died from infection caused by a small-bowel obstruction
that went un-diagnosed for too long. Small-bowel obstruction is a possible
complication from gastric bypass surgery.

Some of the women continued to lose weight after their pregnancy, but this
did not appear to cause any problems.

Dr. Wissler and Dr. McGowan agree that all post-gastric bypass women who
become pregnant should include their bariatric surgeons in their prenatal team.
The symptoms of gastric bypass complications may not be easily detected by an
obstetrician, and the woman's physician may also not be familiar with common
nutritional deficiencies caused by the surgery. Even though the study did find
some risks, the majority of women in the study had perfectly normal, successful
pregnancies after bariatric surgery.

About the Author

To find out more about the risks of
gastric bypass, and to learn about the costs of bariatric surgery and the
post-gastric bypass diet, go to http://www.1gastricbypass.com