The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has released a new bariatric surgical risk/benefit calculator tool for metabolic and bariatric surgeons to begin using to help guide surgical decision making when patients are seeking weight loss surgery to improve health by reducing or eliminating comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and obstructive sleep apnea.
ACS built the bariatric surgical risk/benefit calculator using data collected on millions of bariatric surgical cases within the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) clinical registry. Dr. Clifford Ko, Director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care shared that the calculator assists in predicting rates of untoward events, predicting weight loss, and predicting rate of disease resolution.
The bariatric surgical risk/benefit calculator was announced in late 2019 and made available to all metabolic and bariatric surgery centers on the ACS website and was also linked to the data registry for MBSAQIP-accredited centers.
As a follow-up to the release of the new calculator tool, MBSAQIP-accredited centers began reporting use of the tool preoperatively on each bariatric case that is submitted into the clinical data registry beginning this year. The 2021 MBSAQIP Operations Manual was updated to include a review of all preoperative office visits with the bariatric provider to determine if the calculator tool was used and that the results were reviewed with the patient prior to making a decision to proceed with bariatric surgery.
All patients considering bariatric surgery as part of their plan for reducing or eliminating obesity-related conditions are encouraged to see their metabolic and bariatric provider and review their personal risk/benefit analysis using the new bariatric surgery risk/benefit calculator.
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