Bariatric Surgery Outcomes: What the Data Shows on Sleep Apnea, Blood Pressure and Quality of Life

Ozempic and Mounjaro cost about $500 a month in India and have to be taken indefinitely. The cost of surgery is recovered within about a year of what that ongoing medication would have cost. After that, the only requirement is vitamins and good nutritious food.

The scope goes well beyond bariatric surgery. It includes hiatus hernia, where the stomach moves from the abdomen into the chest, gallbladder stones, particularly complicated cases where a stone has slipped into the bile duct, and problems of the colon and small intestine. It also covers complex abdominal hernias, including inguinal, umbilical, and recurrent hernias that have come back after a local repair, as well as rectal prolapse, complex piles and haemorrhoids, and fistulas near the back passage. All of these can be managed and the patient sent back with a satisfactory outcome.

A waistband that keeps needing loosening is the earliest sign. A partner reporting loud snoring at night is another. And marked breathlessness after something as minor as running 100 metres is a third.

Door to door, from hospital admission to discharge, the cost runs about $5,500 to $6,000. It varies by roughly $500 to $1,000 depending on the patient's body weight, diabetes management and breathing problems.

Relapse is highest with the intragastric balloon: because it has to be removed after four to six months, about 80% of patients regain the weight. With sleeve gastrectomy, around 40% of patients report weight relapse within two years. With gastric bypass, only 5 to 10% of patients report weight regain, which is why I recommend bypass specifically when a patient's weight is above around 125 kilograms.

Close to 100 percent of patients see their obstructive sleep apnea resolve after surgery, according to Dr. Durkhure's data.

In around 84 percent of cases, patients are able to stop taking anti-hypertensive medication after surgery.