A Single-center Experience Examining the Length of Stay and Safety of Early Discharge After Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery

Purpose: This study’s objective was to describe our experience and evaluate the safety of early discharge (ED) following laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) in a specific patient population. Materials and Methods: Patients undergoing LRYGB at Montefiore Medical Center were retrospectively reviewed. Patients readmitted in the first 30 days following surgery were compared to those patients who were not readmitted. Data analysis was used to compare groups and to determine factors associated with readmission. In addition to patient demographics, length of stay (LOS) was analyzed as an independent risk factor for readmission. Results: A total of 630 LRYGB were performed during this period. There were 5.1% (n = 32) of patients that required readmission within 30 days of discharge. Readmitted patients had a higher BMI (50.0 vs. 45.8; p = 0.006) and there was a trend for them to be younger (38.4 years vs. 42.0; p = 0.07). There was an increased rate of ED in 2015 (36.7%, n = 121) compared to 2014 (29.9%, n = 90). The readmission rate for ED for the study period was 4.7% (n = 10). There were no observed mortalities in our early discharge group of patients. Conclusions: Discharge on post-operative day 1 following a LRYGB is safe and is not associated with an increased likelihood of being readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Our single-center experience helps to better characterize current patient profiles and length of stay trends within the field and can be used to establish a randomized controlled trial for discharging patients early after LRYGB.