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Erschienen in:
01.03.2012 | Clinical Research
Impaired Abdominal Skin Sensory Function in Morbid Obesity and After Bariatric Surgery
Erschienen in: Obesity Surgery | Ausgabe 3/2012
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Background
Bariatric surgery reduces body weight, but creates the need for surgical correction of the patient’s body shape, especially of the abdomen. The abdominal skin of the ex-obese has a lower quantity of fibrous and non-fibrous components; however, its functional status has not yet been studied. This study quantified, at different depths, the neurological function of the abdominal skin of the obese and morbidly ex-obese.
Methods
Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments were used to quantify sensory levels of abdominal skin at the supra-umbilical (SU), umbilical (U), and infra-umbilical (IU) levels in 25 currently morbidly obese, 56 post-bariatric patients (open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass), and 43 women with normal body weight and/or overweight without previous obesity (control).
Results
Only the control group showed a positive correlation between a worsening of sensory perception and age (p = 0.02). In the morbid obesity group, sensory threshold was higher at the IU level (9.60 g/mm2) than at the U (5.86 g/mm2) and SU (5.38 g/mm2) levels (p < 0.05). The mean sensory threshold for morbid obesity subjects (6.95 g/mm2) was higher than that of the post-bariatric patients (4.44 g/mm2), which in turn was higher than that of the control group (3.47 g/mm2), p < 0.01.
Conclusions
Morbidly obese and post-bariatric patients have lost the normal positive correlation between age and skin sensitiveness. The IU region has sensitiveness compromised in morbid obesity. Sensory thresholds in post-bariatric patients showed improvement relative to morbidly obese, but remained worse than the control subjects.