Liaison psychiatry and bariatric surgery: double standards. What are the possibilities for the systematization of the pre-operative psychiatric assessment in Belgium?
BACKGROUND
In the context of health care in Belgium, the psychological or psychiatric opinion of a multidisciplinary team is required in the assessment of bariatric surgery candidates. In clinical practice, a wide variety of liaison psychiatry assessment methods exist.


METHODS
On the basis of a post-operative psychiatric comorbidity case report and a literature review on "liaison psychiatry and bariatric surgery" we aim to identify opportunities for the systematization of bariatric pre-surgery psychiatric evaluation.


RESULTS
The bariatric pre-surgery evaluation must be rigorous and founded on evidence-based medicine. On this basis, specific psychiatric criteria may be defined and researched in assessments. The issue remains for psychiatric comorbidities that develop after surgery and for which a preventive framework should be sustained in the liaison psychiatry approach.


CONCLUSIONS
The aim of the research is to support an improved systematization of the psychological assessments of pre-operative bariatric surgery candidates. We believe that systematic evaluation tools should be defined for the identification of possible absolute or relative contra-indications and that a preventive approach to post-operative psychiatric disorders should be included in this assessment.
Université Catholique de Louvain, Psychopathology and Psychosomatic Unit, Mont-Godinne University Hospital, Yvoir, Belgium, denis.jacques@uclouvain.be.
Denis
D
Jacques
Christine
C
Reynaert
Nicolas
N
Zdanowicz