2008 Annual Meeting Abstracts

Back to 2008 Program and Abstracts

Introduction: Roux en y Gastric Bypass (RNYGB) surgery provides significant improvement in weight loss, comorbidity resolution, and life span. One potential complication after gastric bypass surgery is bacterial overgrowth which may affect the outcomes of gastro-intestinal motility, serology, quality of life, and weight loss. Our study aim was to determine if probiotic administration after surgery influenced these outcomes.
Methods: 42 patients successfully underwent laparoscopic RNYGB and were randomized into two groups. One group (PS) received 2.4 Billion Lactobacillus daily post-operatively while the other group served as control subjects (CS). The Gastro-Intestinal Related Quality of Life (GIRQoL) survey, Hydrogen (H2) breath test (H2 Sleuth ®) and weight were obtained pre- and post-operatively at 3 months and 6 months. At baseline, patient demographics for the two groups were similar including GIRQoL, H2 breath test, H.Pylori status, age 43, 82% female, and average pre-op BMI 49 for both groups. Continuous and categorical variables were analyzed via T-test and Chi Square test respectively with a p value of 0.05 set as significant.
Results: At six months, the probiotic group had a smaller H2 peak (3.6 vs 6.8), lower fasting insulin (6.7 vs 7.5), Lipoprotein A (28 vs 41), Triglycerides (99 vs 146), and higher HDL (46 vs 40) versus the control group. In addition, the probiotic group had a statistically significant improvement in GIRQoL versus the control group (115 vs 109, P<.05). Furthermore, a difference in excess weight loss was noted, with the probiotic group losing 70 vs 66 % for controls.
Conclusion: In this novel prospective randomized trial, the use of probiotics after gastric bypass clearly reduces H2 breath test values, improves GI quality of life and leads to increased weight loss.

Back to 2008 Program and Abstracts