Patients with obesity are at higher risk of developing heart failure. And yet, many obese patients face obstacles to getting heart transplants, as recovery is considered to be more challenging and risky in individuals with high body mass. Some physicians have attempted to pair bariatric surgery, which has shown to effectively reduce body mass in some patients, with LVAD surgery – considered a bridge to heart transplantation. However, the studies in general were too small to assess whether the approach was generalizable. New research from Jefferson pooled and analyzed data from multiple studies in a meta-analysis to assess the real-life impact of pairing the bridge-to-transplant LVAD surgery with a sleeve gastrectomy, a bariatric procedure for morbidly obese patients performed for weight reduction.
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