• Matthieu Delaye, Arthur Geraud, Julia Delahousse, Angelo Paci, Daphné Morel, Sophie Broutin, Sophie Laurent, Paul Gougis, David Combarel, Celia Lloret-Linares, and Florian Scotté.
• Gustave Roussy (M.D.), Pain Management Unit, Villejuif, France. Electronic address: matthieu.delaye@gustaveroussy.fr.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2024 Jun 1; 67 (6): e859e868e859-e868.

ContextObesity prevalence is persistently increasing worldwide. Among surgical therapeutic procedures, bypass surgery and sleeve gastrectomy have shown the best results regarding weight loss, prevention, and treatment of secondary complications. However, these surgeries are associated with an increased risk of malabsorption and metabolic changes that could further affect the pharmacokinetics of drugs. On the other hand, patients with a history of such surgeries are more likely to experience pain and request analgesic initiation or adaptation. The question of how to manage pain medication in these patients is challenging due to their narrow therapeutic indexes.ObjectivesTo summarize the current literature on the impact of bariatric surgery on the subsequent pharmacokinetics of analgesics and propose a multidisciplinary therapeutic attitude to optimize pain management in these patients.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review that included all pharmacological studies published after 2000.ResultsUnexpectedly, these surgeries seem to increase the bioavailability of drugs by long-term improvement of hepatic function. Yet, the medical community drastically lacks robust guidelines for pain management in those patients. This systematic review aims to bring together pharmacological studies related to the use of pain treatments in patients who underwent bypass surgery or sleeve gastrectomy.ConclusionsCaution should be exercised regarding the risk of overdose in every circumstance: treatment initiation, change of doses, or change of molecule. More prospective trials comparing the pharmacokinetics of medications in obese patients with and without prior bariatric surgery are needed.Copyright © 2024 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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