title: Evaluation of bariatric surgery patients at the emergency department of a tertiary referral hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the profile of the bariatric surgery patients that were admitted to the Emergency Department (ED).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of the reasons why bariatric surgery patients go to our ED. We analyzed the first 30 days after the surgery. We evaluated the number and indications of admissions, the examinations ordered, and final diagnosis and destination of the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From January 2010 to July 2012, 320 patients underwent bariatric surgery at our Institution. Fifty three patients (16.6%) were admitted to the ED at least once. We found 58 admissions (1.1 admissions by patient). Patients who had duodenal switch and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass were the most representative (74%). The main indications for admission were abdominal pain (50%), and problems related to the surgical wounds (22.4%). Blood test was the most performed examination (75.9%). The most frequent final diagnosis was unspecific abdominal pain in 27 cases (46.6%), and complications of the surgical wound in 10 patients (17.2%). Nineteen patients (35.84%) were admitted to the surgical ward from the ED, and 5 of them required surgical revision (9.4%). Multivariate analyses showed that the type of surgery was the only predictor variable for the ED admission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attending ED after bariatric surgery is not common, and less than a third of the patients required hospital admission. Just a small percentage of the examinations showed any pathological value. Readmission rate is very low. Surgical procedure is the only predictor for ED admission.
authors.forename: Amador
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Ruiz-de-Gordejuela
authors.forename: Zoilo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Madrazo-González
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casajoana-Badia
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Campaña
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Cuesta-González
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pujol-Gebelli
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult