Acute complications following endoscopic intragastric balloon insertion for treatment of morbid obesity in elderly patients. A single center experience.

Background: Obesity is a serious disease, with an increasing incidence also among subjects over 60 years old; surgical management has proven to be the most effective in the production of significant and durable weight loss. Intragastric balloon (IGB) treatment promotes a reduction of five to nine Body Mass Index (BMI) units in 6 months with an impressive improvement of obesity-associated comorbidities.

Methods: Two hundred and twenty-five patients, 106 men (47.1%) and 119 women (52.9%), were evaluated at our institution to be submitted to a IGB positioning. Of these, 12 patients (8 women and 4 men) were more than 60 years old. For all patients BMI, comorbidities, weight loss and complications were recorded. χ2 test was used to evaluate differences in complications rate between elderly and other patients.

Results: For the 12 elderly patients, we recorded a mean excess weight loss rate (EWL%) of 31.4. About complications, we recorded 2 severe esophagitis requiring IGB removal and 1 late gastric perforation. A higher complications rate was found in elderly population and the comparison with other patients revealed a significant difference (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Our results underline that IGB treatment in elderly patients is safe and effective in terms of weight loss and improvement in comorbidities. IGB can cause complications which, sometimes, can be severe such as esophageal damage and gastric perforation. For the management of complications, we highly recommend a close follow-up in all patients and a deepened instrumental study in every suspect case.