Use of Orlistat 60 mg in the Management of Weight Loss Before Bariatric Surgery

BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery are usually required to lose weight during the preoperative phase of their management. For some individuals, this is difficult to achieve with diet and exercise alone, and the use of weight loss medication may be considered a treatment option. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of orlistat 60 mg taken up to 3 times daily as an adjunct to achieve the 10% preoperative weight loss recommended in this bariatric program prior to gastric bypass surgery. METHODS: The aim was to recruit 50 patients (25 treatment, 25 controls) who were in the preoperative phase of their bariatric program. Patients were referred by their physician. Control subjects were selected from individuals who were eligible but not interested in participating in the study during the same period. All patients received usual care. RESULTS: Nineteen patients (5 males) and 19 age- and sex-matched controls were included. The mean (SD) initial body mass index for the treatment versus control group was, respectively, 49.5 (10.5) versus 47.2 (4.9) kg/m(2) (p = 0.559). At 3 months, the percent excess weight (EW) loss was 2.4 (3.8) (n = 15) versus 5.5 (7.6) (n = 19) (p = 0.111) and the percent total body weight (TBW) loss was 1.2 (1.9) versus 2.9 (4.1) (p = 0.103). At 6 months, the percent EW loss was 3.6 (6.4) (n = 9) versus 10.2 (8.0) (n = 16) (p = 0.036) and the percent TBW loss was 2.0 (3.4) versus 5.4 (4.2) (p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Some patients felt that orlistat was beneficial for weight loss; however, overall, they did not show benefit from its addition to their preoperative weight loss management.