In a trial published in 2019, 100 patients with obesity and hypertension (the majority of whom did not have diabetes mellitus) were randomized to gastric bypass or medical therapy alone.
Patients randomized to gastric bypass were 6 times more likely to reduce ≥30% of the total number of antihypertensive medications while maintaining controlled blood pressure levels.
In addition, 51% of the patients submitted to gastric bypass showed remission of hypertension.
What Are the Clinical Implications?
Bariatric surgery represents an effective strategy for reducing antihypertensive drugs in patients with obesity and hypertension.
Given the morbidity of surgery, our results do not imply that all patients with obesity and hypertension should be submitted to bariatric surgery.
Treatment of hypertensive patients with obesity has multiple barriers, including nonadherence to long-term multiple antihypertensive drugs. Thus, gastric bypass represents 1 extra option to help achieve blood pressure control.
Taken together with the improvement of the metabolic and inflammatory profile, such effects have the potential to reduce major cardiovascular events.
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865494/
About Dr. Huacuz
Dr. Huacuz is a General Surgeon with a Specialty in Bariatric Surgery, which is doubly certified by both the Mexican Council of General Surgery and the Mexican College of Surgery for Obesity and Metabolic Diseases, in addition to being a Regular Member of the ASMBS and IFSO.
He has more than 20 years of experience in the area of General Surgery and Training in Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery. Currently Dr. Huacuz is the tenured professor of the Laparoscopic Surgery for Surgeons course at the HGR01 of the IMSS Tijuana for 10 years where he receives two fellows annually.