Sleeve Gastrectomy in Morbidly Obese HIV Patients: Focus on Anti-retroviral Treatment Absorption After Surgery

Context Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) dramatically reduced AIDS development, thus enabling patients to live as long as the general population. New challenges have emerged particularly cardiometabolic diseases and weight gain, with some HIV patients seeking bariatric surgery (BS). However, BS outcomes during HIV remain poorly described, with scarce data on ART pharmacokinetic post-BS. Objective Describing sleeve gastrectomy (SG) results in HIV patients in terms of ART pharmacokinetic, HIV control, weight loss, and metabolic outcomes. Design, Setting, and Patients Prospective study of HIV patients undergoing SG in a referral academic center, with at least 6 months follow-up. Main Outcome Measure Clinical and biological parameters, HIV medical history, and ART pharmacokinetics were gathered before and post-SG. Results Seventeen patients (mean BMI = 44.2 ± 5.7 kg m −2 ) and major obesity-related diseases (47% type-2 diabetes, 64% obstructive sleep apnea, 70% hypertension) underwent SG during a mean 2 years of follow-up. They displayed an average of 20% reduction of initial BMI and improved body composition, similarly to obese non-HIV patients. SG improved metabolic status. All patients had undetectable viral load before BS. Upon HIV follow-up, 12 patients had undetectable viral load with correct ART kinetic parameters (3 and 6 months); 4 displayed detectable viral load along with significant decrease in raltegravir and atazanavir treatment exposure, leading to ART change with subsequent undetectable viral load; and 1 had persistent detectable viral load despite ART change. Conclusions SG seems effective and safe in obese HIV patients. However, ART treatment should be monitored post-SG to control HIV infection. We suggest that some ART should be adapted before SG conjoints with infectious disease specialists.