Does Gastric Bypass Cause Neuro-Trouble?

Gastric bypass surgery causes serious nutritional deficiencies that can lead to disabling and irreversible neurological damage, say Arkansas researchers.

Researcher Katalin Juhasz Pocsine and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock conducted a 10-year study of 150 people who underwent the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure.

During this surgery, the stomach is stapled and part of the small intestine is bypassed, resulting in reduced food intake and a decreased ability to absorb the nutrients in food.

The team noted that many of the patients had multiple nutritional deficiencies, such as low levels of serum copper, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron and calcium.

Neurological symptoms resulting from these deficiencies appeared in 26 patients as early as 4 weeks or as long as 18 years after surgery and included confusion, auditory hallucinations, optic neuropathy, weakness and loss of sensation in the legs, and foot pain. None of the patients had experienced these symptoms before their operation, researchers said.

Attention should be given to long-term intake of vitamin and mineral supplements to prevent some of these complications and to avoid severe and rapid weight loss, Pocsine said. Patients should be made aware of the symptoms that herald these neurological complications, and physicians should attend to the wide-based nutritional deficiencies as soon as possible.

The study is published in the May 22 issue of the journal Neurology.