http://diets.aol.com/newsandtrends/obesitysurgery
From AOL's front page:
With more than 30 percent of Americans considered obese, a procedure once reserved for few dangerously obese adults has ballooned in popularity. But how safe is it?
Surgical weight-loss procedures were performed on nearly 200,000 Americans in 2005. Historically, gastric bypass surgery has been the method of choice in the United States, but many physicians now claim the "band" procedure is safer and just as effective, according to a recent report in the New York Times.
Here's the rub: With the band, pounds drop off much more slowly and Americans are impatient. The weight loss that can be achieved in one year with gastric bypass takes five years with a band.
To partake of any weight-loss procedure, patients must have a body mass index (BMI) over 40 or a BMI over 35 coupled with a weight-related medical condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure.* And while each these procedures may reduce the stomach to the size of a coffee cup, they wont be effective if you re-fill the cup hundreds of times a day!
What are your options for the surgical slim-down?
The Band: In this procedure, a "band" is placed over the top of the stomach and inflated with saline to restrict the amount of food that can enter and pass through the stomach. It's the preferred method in Europe, but accounts for only 17 percent of weight loss procedures in the United States. Weight loss is slower with the band, but the procedure is fully reversible and has the lowest mortality rate (0.1 percent). The drawback: bands can erode over time and may need adjustments to remain effective.
Gastric Bypass: The most common method in the United States, gastric bypass (think stomach stapling) consists of stapling off a small pouch from the rest of the stomach and connecting it to the small intestine. The result: People can't eat as much because the pouch holds less food and they absorb less of what they do take in because part of the intestine is bypassed. Complications range from gas, pain and diarrhea to malnutrition, osteoporosis and death (at a rate of 2 percent).
Biliopancreatic Diversion/Duodenal Switch: With a 2.5 to 5 percent mortality rate, this procedure is the riskiest in terms of death and malnutrition. The switch preserves a valve that controls release of food into the intestines from the stomach. And results are astounding with 60 to 80 percent of excess pounds lost within a year.
-- Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H.
From AOL's front page:
With more than 30 percent of Americans considered obese, a procedure once reserved for few dangerously obese adults has ballooned in popularity. But how safe is it?
Surgical weight-loss procedures were performed on nearly 200,000 Americans in 2005. Historically, gastric bypass surgery has been the method of choice in the United States, but many physicians now claim the "band" procedure is safer and just as effective, according to a recent report in the New York Times.
Here's the rub: With the band, pounds drop off much more slowly and Americans are impatient. The weight loss that can be achieved in one year with gastric bypass takes five years with a band.
To partake of any weight-loss procedure, patients must have a body mass index (BMI) over 40 or a BMI over 35 coupled with a weight-related medical condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure.* And while each these procedures may reduce the stomach to the size of a coffee cup, they wont be effective if you re-fill the cup hundreds of times a day!
What are your options for the surgical slim-down?
The Band: In this procedure, a "band" is placed over the top of the stomach and inflated with saline to restrict the amount of food that can enter and pass through the stomach. It's the preferred method in Europe, but accounts for only 17 percent of weight loss procedures in the United States. Weight loss is slower with the band, but the procedure is fully reversible and has the lowest mortality rate (0.1 percent). The drawback: bands can erode over time and may need adjustments to remain effective.
Gastric Bypass: The most common method in the United States, gastric bypass (think stomach stapling) consists of stapling off a small pouch from the rest of the stomach and connecting it to the small intestine. The result: People can't eat as much because the pouch holds less food and they absorb less of what they do take in because part of the intestine is bypassed. Complications range from gas, pain and diarrhea to malnutrition, osteoporosis and death (at a rate of 2 percent).
Biliopancreatic Diversion/Duodenal Switch: With a 2.5 to 5 percent mortality rate, this procedure is the riskiest in terms of death and malnutrition. The switch preserves a valve that controls release of food into the intestines from the stomach. And results are astounding with 60 to 80 percent of excess pounds lost within a year.
-- Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H.
