Weight Loss Surgery News Blog

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Obesity in America - Reducing the costs of obesity

Obesity costs the health care system $90 billion a year, affecting both those who are obese and those who are not. Business Week is doing a check-up on the system, see where the problems lie, and look at what companies are doing to reduce obesity in their workforce.

Watch the video by clicking the link above.

Link: http://www.robertorizzi.com/plastic_surgery.htm

According to the annual statistics of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of body contouring procedures performed has dramatically increased over the past five years. Abdominoplasty, Lower Body Lift, Buttock lift experienced a 200% gain while Thigh and Upper Arm Lift experienced a 400% rise.

Bariatric Surgery (especially the Gastric Bypass Surgery) are surging in popularity. With massive weight loss in a short time, skin often does not shrink well. Body contouring plastic (or cosmetic) surgery can help deal with this extra skin and give such individuals a new image after losing massive weight.

As gastric bypass procedures exponentially increase, so too will body contouring operations.

Though tummy tucks, lower body lifts, and upper arm lifts are not new to the cosmetic surgery world, performing these (and other) procedures on post-bariatric patients often requires a different approach. What makes body contouring, or body reshaping, more difficult after bariatric surgery is that the skin has usually been permanently damaged by being so extremely stretched. The result is that the patient's skin will loosen with age faster than a normal patient's.

Bariatric patients desiring such reshaping after surgery should use a specialist with experience dealing with this type of situation.

Link: http://www.francoerizzi.com.br/videolaparoscopia.htm

NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery) is becoming the epicentre of a revolution in laparoscopic surgery.

It is a new type of surgical procedure currently being studied at research hospitals and facilities around the world.

The idea behind NOTES is an incisionless surgery, which would de facto eliminate scars accessing the peritoneal cavity via natural orifices.

As an example, in natural orifice surgery the gallbladder might be removed through the mouth. A range of procedures might be performed this way, such as gastric bypass, fallopian tubal ligation, removal of the ovaries and diagnostic work. Some operations might be done via the rectum, vagina, urethra or bladder as well.

Laparoscopic surgeons needed to rethink their procedures and look for solutions to accomodate use of NOTES. How can they possibly reduce the number of trocars? How can they perform procedures that needs several instruments and therefore multiple ports, when aiming at reducing the number of ports?

Several options are available: decrease the number of instruments, gather ports in the same incision, use multiple instruments through the same port or use an operative scope through a single port.

Major improvements are still needed. But most likely the technological developments of NOTES will return benefits to laparoscopic surgery soon.

Link: http://www.francoerizzi.com.br/cirurgia-diabetes.htm

Nationally, the number of weight-loss operations soared 800 percent between 1998 and 2004, and another 11 percent between 2005 and 2006. Americans get more than 205,000 weight-loss surgeries a year, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery – a number that is almost certain to keep climbing.

Research has shown that the surgery is getting far safer as it is performed more often. And more than 30 studies have found it effective for treating diabetes.

In the most recent example, a January study by Australian researchers, 60 obese, diabetic patients were randomly chosen to have laparoscopic adjustable-gastric-band surgery, a less drastic procedure than gastric bypass, or regular treatment, which consisted of counseling on diet and exercise, plus medications, if necessary.

The results were stunning. Seventy-three percent of the surgical group was no longer diabetic at the end of the two-year study period, compared with 13 percent in the regular care group.

To be sure, the surgery does not cure all problems. Many people still experience nausea, particularly if they eat sweets or greasy foods after the bypass surgery called Roux-en-Y.

Link: http://www.news.com.au

Lap-band surgery, which costs about $4500 if insured or $15,500 if uninsured, reduces the size of the stomach and the amount of food a person can consume.

The procedure has become increasing popular in the past few years, with 2149 operations conducted in NSW last year compared to 1423 in 2006 - and just 270 in 2002.

Australians are risking their lives by undergoing lap-band surgery with 14 people dying from the radical weight-loss surgery in the past six years. Most of the deaths were the result of leakage, infection or post-surgery bleeding, according to a report from the National Coroners Information System. Other causes of death included severe complications at the time of surgery, heart problems - possibly caused by dramatic weight loss - and thrombosis. Of the 29,508 procedures which have been conducted across the country in the past six years, coroners have linked one NSW death to lap-band surgery, seven in Victoria and six in the rest of the country.

Medicare figures reveal that of the 6232 people who had gastric banding in NSW since 2002, 416 had additional surgery to have band repaired, revised or replaced. One in 14 people who had the procedure in New South Wales have had to to have corrective surgery.
In that time, more than 600 people had weight-loss surgery (including lap-band surgery and stomach stapling) reversed because of misplacement of the band or other adverse effects.

The Department of Health's NSW Surgical Services Taskforce mentioned that people who have lap-band surgery are already suffering complications that go with obesity - such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.