The Effect of Gastric Banding on Kidney Stone Disease

Objectives: To evaluate the likelihood of being diagnosed with, or treated for, an upper urinary tract calculus after gastric banding. Bariatric surgical procedures are being increasingly utilized in the treatment of patients with morbid obesity. Certain malabsorptive bariatric procedures have been associated with an increased risk for kidney stone formation. However, the kidney stone risk of gastric banding, a restrictive bariatric procedure, is unknown. Methods: We identified 201 patients who underwent gastric banding and a control group of 201 obese patients who did not have bariatric surgery in a national private insurance claims database within a 5-year period from 2002-2006. All patients had at least 2 years of continuous claims data follow-up. Our 2 primary outcomes were the diagnosis and the surgical treatment of a urinary calculus. Results: After gastric banding, the diagnosis of an upper urinary tract calculus occurred in 3 subjects (1.49%), as compared with 12 subjects (5.97%) in the comparison cohort (P = .0179). One subject in each cohort (0.50%) underwent a surgical procedure for the treatment of an upper urinary tract (P = 1.0000). Conclusions: Gastric banding is not associated with an increased risk for kidney stone disease or kidney stone surgery in the postoperative period. Additional long-term studies are required to confirm these findings.