AF and Bariatric Surgery

[Blackmoubtaun]

my cardiologist has referred me to a bariatric clinic. My BMI is just under 33 right now.

I have underlying cardiomyopathy, and the cardiologist thinks ablation carries too much risk. So I expect that bariatric surgery is a potential solution in this case.

According to a medical study I found, bariatric surgery in a cohort of 1700 patients resulted in 70% having reduced AF.

I wonder if anyone has a personal experience of having AF reduced after bariatric surgery?

[Barny12]

Have you thought about going down the medication route rather than surgery? Wegovy is now available on the NHS apparently:

healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/202...

[Blackmoubtaun in reply to Barny12]

I’m thinking seriously about this. Right now there is none available in the NHS. It has been pushed back into 2024 or possibly later. On the horizon are more powerful options, one of them has resulted in 25% weight loss. My only concern with this is whether the reason BS works is not the weight loss but something else.

[Barny12 in reply to Blackmoubtaun]

Are you sure about it being pushed back? The government website I linked to says:

"Semaglutide (Wegovy) launched in the UK on 4 September and is available on the NHS as an option for weight management in line with NICE guidance,"

healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/202...

[Blackmoubtaun in reply to Barny12]

Sorry, I didn’t click on the link, that’s more recent info. I’ll check. I attended a “lifestyle” clinic yesterday and they hadn’t heard of it. I’ll ask the GP I’m seeing in a minute.

[LordGabriel]

I had a gastric bypass while in NSR. I had a cardioversion and that got me into NSR and then I had the surgery. It was a little scary worrying about bleeding etc taking anti coagulants but everything went fine.

However what I would say is that I had a gastric sleeve many years ago that resulted in half my body weight loss. It was revised to a gastric bypass because of a hiatus hernia issue …. but since the bypass I have put on weight!!! If you get a choice, I would choose sleeve.

[Blackmoubtaun in reply to LordGabriel]

That is very interesting. How long have you been in NSR post bariatric surgery?

[LordGabriel]

I stayed in NSR for 10 more months. Then had a PIP to get back in rhythm- went on the list for Ablation- had that 6 months later in Oct 2020. Been in NSR ever since bar 1 short episode.