Obesity surgery is one area of medicine where the rewards greatly outstrip the risks. While a few holdouts point to some potentially negative aspects of these procedures, even more medical experts have empirically proven that these risks are minimal, and the positive results great.
Nowadays, people can’t deny that these procedures work. The surgery alters the stomach to reduce the food eaten by the patient.
Gastric bypass surgery, for example, is done by ‘stapling’ the stomach and making it smaller. This forces the patient to eat less. The results are tested and proven, and the reduced amount of food eaten rapidly translates to lost weight.
Effectiveness of Surgery on Weight Loss
In general, the malabsorptive procedures lead to more weight loss than the restrictive procedures; however, they have a higher risk profile. A meta-analysis from University of California, Los Angeles, reports the following weight loss at 36 months
- Biliopancreatic diversion — 117 Lbs / 53 kg
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) — 90 Lbs / 41 kg
- Open — 95 Lbs/ 43 kg
- Laparoscopic — 84 Lbs / 38 kg
- Vertical banded gastroplasty — 71 Lbs / 32 kg
The maximum weight loss occurs in the first 10 months after surgery.
More recent studies have demonstrated that the medium (3–8 years) and long term (< 10 years) weight loss results for RYGB and LAGB become very similar. However, the range of excess weight loss for LAGB patients (25% to 80%) is much broader than that of RYGB patients (50% to 70%). Data (beyond 5 years) for sleeve gastrectomy indicates weight loss statistics similar to RYGB. One famous example is that of Argentinean World Cup winner Diego Maradona. The famous footballer had ballooned to near-morbid obesity during the days of his retirement. He then went under the knife in a Colombia clinic in March 2005.
Some say the procedure saved his life, as he would go on to dramatically drop weight and eventually revive his career in sports as Argentina’s national team coach.
Obesity surgery can and will change a patient’s life. It can be a true life-saver; however, expectations should always be kept in the proper perspective.
While it is not meant to be a ‘miracle cure’ that can get rid of a patient’s obesity in a heartbeat, the impact is undeniable.
Long-term studies show the procedures cause not only significant long-term loss of weight but recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and a reduction in mortality of 23% from 40%.
However, a study in Veterans Affairs (VA) patients has found no survival benefit associated with bariatric surgery among older, severely obese people when compared with usual care, at least out to seven years.
Supplanted with a healthy lifestyle and positive attitude, it can be a way for people like Maradona to resume their previously healthy lives, or in some cases, avert other health-related disasters before they happen.
