The Necessity of Preoperative Pulmonary Function Screening in PatientsScheduled for Bariatric Surgery

Obesity is an increasing problem worldwide and since the 1980’s the number of people with obesity has doubled [1]. The only treatment with longstanding effect is bariatric surgery [2]. With the increasing prevalence of obesity, the numbers of bariatric surgical procedures are also increasing [2]. Obesity is known to affect many organ systems under which the respiratory system. Various respiratory physiological parameters are affected, such as compliance, neuromuscular strength, work of breathing and lung volumes [3,4]. Because of these affected respiratory physiological parameters, obese patients are prone to develop pulmonary complications after bariatric surgery. Therefore the question rises whether we need to perform a preoperative pulmonary function screening in obese patients scheduled for bariatric surgery, to identify the patients prone for postoperative complications. Secondly, do we need to screen obese patients for the presence of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (OSAS)? [5,6] Because OSAS occurs frequently untreated and might lead to postoperative complications [7-10].