Bariatric surgery in Singapore from 2005 to 2009

Obesity is a major public health concern worldwide, including Singapore. Bariatric surgery has grown in popularity to combat this situation, and innovations in this field have led to the emergence of new bariatric procedures. For the healthy growth of this specialized field of surgery, it is mandatory to audit the progress and state of bariatric surgery at regular intervals.

An e-mail questionnaire survey was conducted in all the leading hospitals of Singapore practicing bariatric surgery between 2005 and 2009. All four hospitals to which the questionnaire survey was mailed responded. The responses from these hospitals were tabulated and analyzed.

Between 2005 and 2009, a total of 278 bariatric procedures were performed on 151 men and 127 women with a mean age of 40.34 years (range: 18-64 years) by 12 practicing surgeons. The mean body mass index was 42.25 kg/m(2) (range: 31.4-73 kg/m(2)). All the operations were performed laparoscopically. The most commonly performed procedure was adjustable gastric banding (81.65%), followed by sleeve gastrectomy (13.66%) and Roux en Y gastric bypass (3.95%).

There is a flux of newer procedures in Singapore. Adjustable gastric banding, which was the only available procedure being performed in 2004, was gradually being replaced by other procedures such as sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in 2009.