SP 7.14 The Utility of Routine Pre-Operative Upper GI Endoscopy Prior To Bariatric Surgery
Charlie Hextall, Eleanor Rees, Phillip McAdam, Anna Warde, Anil Kaul, Sukitha RupasingheAbstract
Background
Routine upper GI endoscopy prior to bariatric surgery is not widely practised, although there is no official guidance from BOMSS, guidance from ASMBS recommends routine endoscopy, while the IFSO position statement recommends a selective approach. Our Unit performs pre-operative endoscopy routinely, and we wanted to evaluate our practice to see if the results of these endoscopies changed the clinical decision of patients undergoing bariatric surgery at our regional tertiary centre.
Method
Records of patients who had undergone bariatric surgery in our regional centre were extracted from the prospective database from December 2023 to July 2025. Basic Demographics, patient factors and comorbidities were recorded. A list of conditions which would affect the decision-making prior to bariatric surgery was devised by the consultant team. The records were tallied against these conditions. Operative planning was discussed in the Bariatric MDT prior to surgery.
Results
133 patients were extracted from the database (87% N=116 Female, 13% N=17 Male). All patients underwent pre-operative endoscopy. 74 (55%) had some abnormality, of these 24 (18%) of patients had a pathology that would change their management plan, these figures also included patients who had Barret’s oesophagus 3 (2%), ulcerating lesions in the stomach 6 (5%) and severe oesophagitis 8 (6%).
Conclusion
The service evaluation project justifies the practice of routine endoscopy in this group of patients. We aim to collaborate with other units in the future to identify any patient factors in a large study population that can predict positive findings in these groups.