Weight loss surgery works better than weight-loss drugs or diets

Recent research from the Institute for Cardiovascular Research, Amsterdam, revealed that 80% of obese people suffering from diabetes were able to come off their medication following a gastric bypass. The Institute also revealed that 62% needed no further treatment following gastric banding. Spire Manchester Hospital recently became the first hospital in the North West to be awarded ‘Centre of Excellence’ status from the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO). The Spire Manchester Hospital had to prove to an independent committee that its bariatric surgeons each had a minimum of five years experience performing weight loss procedures, alongside a dedicated team who effectively treat and manage morbidly obese patients from initial consultation to life-long aftercare.



Bariatric surgery is not only cost-effective for treating people who are severely obese, but also for those who are mildly obese, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings support making bariatric surgery available to all obese people, the researchers say.

Source: Private Health

Female patients who had gastric bypass surgery are 42 per cent less likely to develop cancer

A Swedish study, published in the Lancet Oncology, has found that female patients who had surgery were 42 per cent less likely to develop cancer. But there was no change to the incidence of cancer in men. The authors, based at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, concluded: 'In our study, the significant reduction in overall cancer incidence in the female surgery group emanated from a variety of cancer types, indicating a broad effect of bariatric surgery.'



Dr Andrew Renehan, of the University of Manchester's School of Cancer, said the findings reinforced the importance of studying the sexes separately.
He said the most likely explanation for the weight-loss surgery in reducing cancer risk was its impact on hormones.

Read more on: Mail Online

Gastric bypass surgery may be the single most important advancement in the treatment of the chronic disease since the discovery of insulin

Doctors in Canada are taking part in a study to see if a surgery used to treat severe obesity may also help people with Type 2 diabetes.

However, they caution that so far, only anecdotal evidence results suggesting the surgery works.Still, researchers are encouraged that the operation has helped some patients get rid of the disease entirely.

Cindy Dugas, 48, is one such patient. She recently had the surgery and says it has worked wonders. "My goal is to live without diabetes," she told CTV News, adding that the disease could seriously impact her health in years to come.



"You are looking at nerve damage, you are looking at liver damage, you are looking at heart damage, and I don't want to be looking at those things."
Ten days after the operation, Dugas said that her blood sugar levels have dramatically improved.

Critics are skeptical, but a new study may shed some light on the surgery's effectiveness in helping diabetic patients.

Dr. Mehran Anvari, a McMaster University professor and surgeon at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, is contributing to the study, which he hopes will be extremely useful.

"This is at the moment the only treatment being evaluated as a potential cure for diabetes," he told CTV News. Here's how the surgery works. First, doctors insert tools into the abdomen and cut down the size of the stomach, which is then attached to a lower part of the intestine.

The surgery seems to change hormone levels in patients, thus eliminating their diabetes. Anvari says he's tried the surgery on six patients and it's worked on all of them. "(The patients) go off medications almost immediately after surgery, and by six months they are normal," he said.

Some doctors argue that the surgery is a risky option. They also say that no one knows how long a patient's diabetes remission may last. But researchers hope the data coming from the Canadian study will convince doctors that the surgery is indeed a new way of treating those with uncontrolled diabetes. So far, doctors said they've enrolled 20 people in the study and are hoping to have 100 in total.

Source: CTV.ca

Increased physical activity after gastric bypass surgery can yield better postoperative outcomes

Bariatric surgery is quickly emerging as a standard treatment for severe obesity, although weight loss outcomes vary. These results suggest that patient behaviour, particularly physical activity, may promote both enhanced weight loss and greater improvements in health-related quality of life following bariatric surgery," says lead author Dale Bond, PhD, The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island.Approximately 190 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University participated in the study.

A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess physical activity levels of participants both before surgery and 1 year after surgery. Researchers set a benchmark of 200 minutes of weekly moderate or vigorous physical activity to differentiate between inactive versus active individuals.Participants also completed a standardised self-reported questionnaire designed to measure health-related quality of life, focusing on areas such as physical functioning, limitations because of physical or emotional problems, bodily pain, general health, energy levels (vitality), social functioning, and mental health. Overall, researchers observed a positive relationship between changes in physical activity and improved bariatric outcomes.



More than two-thirds (68%) of those individuals who went from being inactive before surgery to highly active 1 year afterward lost an additional 13.2 lbs, reduced their body mass index (BMI) by 2 more units and lost 8% more of their excess weight compared with those who remained inactive after surgery. This group also increased their daily physical activity duration from an average of less than 10 minutes before surgery to approximately 2 hours postoperatively.

Nearly a third (32%) of participants who engaged in less frequent physical activity did not change their activity levels postoperatively, accumulating fewer than 10 minutes of daily exercise both before and after surgery. When researchers looked at health-related quality of life, they discovered that individuals who became active following bariatric surgery, as well as those who were already physically active, reported greater improvements in areas such as general health, vitality, depression, and anxiety symptoms compared with those who remained inactive."Future studies should focus on identifying factors that can target those individuals who are likely to remain inactive after surgery and might require additional interventions to increase their level of physical activity," said Dr. Bond.

Source: Doctor's Guide

Gastric bypass reduced the risk for a future cardiovascular event anywhere from 8 percent to 79 percent

The take-home message is that "bariatric surgery can be considered as a means to reduce cardiovascular risk (in obese patients) after conservative treatment options have failed," Dr. John A. Batsis told Reuters Health. Batsis, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire and his colleagues identified six studies that looked at cardiovascular risk after bariatric surgery for obesity. The risk was estimated from standard tables that assigned a score for factors such as weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Depending on how the patients' risk was assessed, the researchers found that gastric bypass reduced the risk for a future cardiovascular event anywhere from 8 percent to 79 percent, compared to not having the procedure, the team reports in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Looked at another way, the predicted chance of having a heart attack or needing heart surgery or dying of heart disease over 10 years fell from 7.0 percent to 3.5 percent after undergoing bariatric surgery. For people who did not have surgery, the probability fell from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent.



These figures were estimates. As Batsis noted, "Further studies are required to better understand the long-term impact of bariatric surgery on predicted cardiovascular risk in obese patients by determining the actual number of cardiac events."

Source: Yahoo News

Gastric bypass surgery restores sexual function in morbidly obese men

Losing weight may help resolve erectile dysfunction in obese men, according to research presented today at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). Morbid obesity can cause sexual dysfunction independent of other common confounders, including diabetes, hypertension and smoking. In this study from researchers in Boston and Philadelphia, sexual function was normalized in some men who underwent gastric bypass surgery for weight loss.

“This study shows that weight loss and other risk factors which are alleviated by weight loss may be keys to restoring sexual function,” said Anthony Y. Smith, M.D. “These results give men another reason to improve their health by losing weight.”



In this study, 95 patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery for weight loss completed the Brief Sexual Inventory (BSI) pre- and post-operatively. On average, BSI scores improved in all categories, including sexual drive, erectile function, ejaculatory function, problem assessment and sexual satisfaction. The amount of weight lost predicted the degree of improvement in all areas of the survey. Results were then compared to data from the Olmstead County Study of Urinary Health Status Survey, a community-based prospective study often used as a baseline for study comparison. After an average of 67 percent weight loss post-bypass, BSI scores were comparable to patients in the Olmstead Study.

Gastric bypass surgery, a procedure that reduces the body’s caloric intake, can be used to induce significant weight loss in the obese. Calorie reduction is accomplished by making the stomach smaller and bypassing part of the stomach and small intestines so that fewer calories are absorbed. The patient feels full faster and learns to reduce the amount of food that he/she eats.

Source: EurekAlert