Abstract
Background:
Bariatric surgery is well established as an effective long-term treatment for obesity. The addition of vagotomy to bariatric surgery is thought to control hunger and satiety, but its efficacy has not been fully assessed. This systematic review aims to elucidate the effectiveness of vagotomy added to bariatric surgical procedures on weight loss.
Materials and Methods:
This study was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Human studies (in the English language) investigating vagotomy added to bariatric surgery were included. We used the RoB2.0 model and ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in each study. A meta-analysis was performed using the meta package in R and the Mantel–Haenszel weighing method.
Results:
A total of 363 records were identified from the original search. Four studies were analyzed involving 1495 participants. Percentage excess weight loss was extracted as the primary outcome measure. There was no statistically significant difference in weight loss between patients undergoing bariatric surgery with and without vagotomy.
Conclusions:
Performing vagotomy with bariatric surgery does not lead to additional weight loss. This review only included four studies and the lack of a significant difference may be due to underpowering and heterogeneity. Further studies need to be adequately powered and the methodology and outcomes should be standardized.
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