Doctor requires 10% of body weight lost pre-surgery. Common?

DaisyMay · 04-04-2008, 04:22 PM

Hi all. My surgeon requires fairly extensive pre-surgery testing of all patients regardless of health history - sleep study, psych evaluation, dietician approval, EKG, chest x-ray, echocardiogram, blood work, and approval of family doctor. He also requires that all patients lose a minimum of 10% of their body weight prior to surgery - no exceptions. That means I have to lose at least 28 lbs. before the surgery. Is this common? Have others had this requirement?

**Jack** · 04-04-2008, 04:29 PM

As far as I've seen, most surgeons require a certain amount of weight loss pre-surgery.

I've heard a number of reasons also. The most common, is to shrink the liver to make surgical access easier.

And it has to come off in any case.

SugarBean · 04-04-2008, 04:32 PM

That is probably normal. I was told to lose 30 pounds. I started at 304. I have not updated my ticker, but I have lost 39 pounds as of Wednesday.

It definetly makes surgery easier if you lose weight and it lets your doctor know that you are serious about changing your health status.

**Wheetsin** · 04-04-2008, 04:56 PM

I'd estimate at least half of the stories I read require some display of weightloss pre-op. As for the pre-op testing, I didn't have to do a sleep study (I had no signs of a sleep problem) or an echocardiogram, and no doctor approval required because I have a PPO, but psych evaluation and dietician approval are based for insurance-approved procedures, and EKG, chest x-ray, and bloodwork are basics for the hospital admitting process.