As a potential patient for weight-loss surgery, imagine if you could accurately predict the risk factors involved. According to a recent article in Science Daily, that appears to be the case.
Researchers at Duke University developed a simple scoring system that takes into account five medical factors of patients undergoing bariatric surgery — weight, gender, age, blood pressure and risk of blood clotting. This data is used to predict how the patient will do during the actual surgery.
An excerpt:
“This represents the first validated scoring system for assessing risk for patients considering bariatric surgery,” said Duke surgeon Eric DeMaria, M.D., who developed the system. “The system gives surgeons concrete data they can use in surgical decision-making and in their discussions with patients. Also, the system provides standardization of surgical outcomes, making comparisons among centers more meaningful.”