Journal of Obesity & Eating Disorders

Bariatric Surgery in Morbid Obesity Patient Can Cure Pulmonary Hypertension and Obstructive Apnea: A Case Review

Background: Morbid Obesity can complicate and causing not only metabolic syndrome, but also can cause severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Even the OSA itself can also cause pulmonary hypertension and it has been well documented. Series of medical disease can be reversed if we can reduce body mass index (BMI) in our obesity patient.
Method: We present a case of a 41 year old lady with severe OSA secondary to morbid obesity who also was found to have moderate pulmonary hypertension. Her weight was out of control since teenage years. During her initial presentation, her BMI was 57.6 kg/m². She often complained of shortness of breath on exertion and failure symptoms. She had a functional classification of NYHA class II. She was given initial treatment of CPAP and dietary restriction. But her BMI was still slow to improve. Subsequently, she underwent bariatric surgery with marked improvement in her BMI.
Findings: Her functional class improved to NYHA class I and her failure medication can be stopped. Her pulmonary hypertension also cured to near normal value. She returns to normal life with no complication from the surgery.
Conclusion: Reduction of BMI in morbid obesity can be dramatically achieved by bariatric surgery which can reverse and established medical complications.

Author(s):

Che Hassan HH, Mohd Hishamuddin KA, Mohamad Farouk ND, Mohd SF, Govindaraju S and Tiau WJ 

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