Operative strategies for patients with failed primary bariatric procedures

Bariatric surgery is the most effective therapy to treat obesity and its sequelae. With the increasing incidence of obesity, the number of bariatric procedures has dramatically increased in recent years. The perioperative morbidity reached a very low level, and nearly all revisional bariatric procedures are primarily minimally invasive today. About 10-25% of the patients undergoing bariatric surgery require a revision at some point after their initial operation. Consequently, revisional bariatric surgery has emerged as a distinct practice, performed mainly at tertiary centers, to resolve complications caused by the primary operation and to provide satisfactory weight loss. In this review, our personal experience with revisional bariatric surgery is discussed against the background of the available literature. We further attempt to define major indications for revisional bariatric surgery and balance them with perioperative and long-term morbidity as well as the surgical outcome.