Obesity is a very serious medical problem included by the World Health Organization to the epidemics of modern times. The epidemiological data suggest that about 50% of adults are overweight and obese. In the treatment of obesity conservative methods are used, such as lifestyle changes, diet, pharmacotherapy and surgical methods, which according to the existing data show the greatest effectiveness. Department of medicine dealing with the treatment of obesity is called bariatric and patient struggling with the problem of obesity and its derivatives is called a "bariatric patient." Among the existing surgical methods for the treatment of obesity, the most commonly used is sleeve laparoscopic gastrectomy.

The purpose of the paper is to present the current standards for the qualification and preparation of a patient for bariatric surgery in Poland. Considerations were based on the selected Polish and foreign literature from the last ten years.