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In WLS, surgeon's skill matters a lot--New Study Info
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Today (10/11/13) the Los Angeles Times published the results of a study published by the New England Journal of medicine that shows that the surgeon's skill has a huge impact on the complications stemming from surgery.. Surgeons ranked in the bottom 25% of the skill ratings had 4 times the patient complication rates of surgeons ranked in the top 25%. Similarly, mortality rates for the less experienced were much higher at 0.26% vs. 0.05% for the experienced surgeons.
The key determinant of a surgeon's skill was found to be the number and frequency of gastric bypass procedures performed. Practice apparently does make perfect! The most skilled surgeons averaged 157 gastric bypasses per year and 241 bariatric procedures per year. Total number of years in practice, being at a teaching hospital and other factors were less important.
http://www.latimes.c...0,2063803.story
This suggests to me that patients in non-urban areas should strongly consider surgeons in larger communities or at regional medical centers that do many more surgeries per year.