Bariatric surgery and stone disease: Help or hindrance?

Obesity is an important medical problem that is rapidly approaching epidemic status. As diet and lifestyle changes can be ineffective at producing long-term weight loss, bariatric surgical procedures have become increasingly applicable to the management of obesity. Recent evidence suggests that certain types of bariatric procedures will induce lithogenic metabolic changes, and have been associated with increased risk of kidney stone formation. Specifically, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedures appear most likely to increase risk of urinary stone disease. In these patients, identification of metabolic abnormalities is important to therapeutically modify these risk factors. In doing so, the likelihood of stone formation may be reduced.