Bariatric Surgery in Patients with Severe Heart Failure.

Obesity and cardiac failure are globally endemic and increasingly intersecting. Bariatric surgery may improve cardiac function and act as a bridge-to-transplantation. We aim to identify effects of bariatric surgery on severe heart failure patients and ascertain its role regarding cardiac transplantation. A retrospective study of a prospectively collected database identified heart failure patients who underwent bariatric surgery between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017. Patients were followed up 12 months post-operatively. Cardiac investigations, functional capacity, cardiac transplant candidacy, morbidity and length of stay were recorded. Twenty-one patients (15 males, 6 females), mean age 48.7 ± 10, BMI 46.2 kg/m Bariatric surgery is safe and highly effective in obese patients with severe heart failure with substantial improvements in cardiac function and symptoms. A threshold pre-operative BMI of 49 kg/m