Bariatric surgery for prospective living kidney donors with obesity?
Author(s) -
Montgomery John R.,
Telem Dana A.,
Waits Seth A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/ajt.15260
Subject(s) - medicine , obesity , weight loss , psychological intervention , referral , candidacy , kidney transplantation , intensive care medicine , surgery , transplantation , general surgery , family medicine , nursing , politics , political science , law
The obesity epidemic has gripped the transplant community. With nearly 40% of adults in the United States being obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 ) and 20% being morbidly obese (BMI ≥35 kg/m 2 ), the implications for both donors and recipients of solid organs continue to grow. 1 Nowhere is this more impactful than the candidacy of living kidney donors ( LKDs ). As increasing numbers of obese adults present for LKD consideration and evidence of inferior outcomes among obese LKD s grows, transplant surgeons will become progressively challenged by how to manage these patients in the clinic. Therefore, we offer this Personal Viewpoint to the transplant surgery community in order to review the current impact of obesity on living kidney donation, highlight what weight‐loss interventions have already been attempted, and discuss the role that referral for weight‐loss interventions including bariatric surgery might have going forward.