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Essay On Bariatric Surgery

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Danielle Torres English 111 Carol Kaiser 10 April 2017 Bariatric Surgery and Long-Term Control of Morbid Obesity Obesity, defined by an individual’s body mass index (BMI) > 30kg/, is a chronic physical illness that has reached epidemic levels in the United States (Brolin 2793). In fact, due to the increasing obesity levels, a new category with a defined BMI has been added—morbid obesity, defined as a weight of 100% over ideal body weight, with a BMI of 40 or more (Brolin). It is estimated that approximately 5% of the US population is morbidly obese, often labeled as the number one US public health problem (Buchwald et al. 1724). When treating a morbidly obese patient, the resolution of existing comorbidities is an equally important …show more content…

While there are several surgical options, there are two procedures that are most commonly perfomed. The gastric bypass procedure divides the patients stomach into two pieces, rerouting the large intestine to the smaller of the two pouches—limiting the amount of food a patient can eat, as well as reducing food absorption after indigestion (Groven et al 509). So, the gastric bypass surgery is not only the most commonly performed procedure, but it results in the most significant amount of weight loss (Groven et al 509). Another commonly performed and fairly new procedure is the sleeve gastrectomy. During a sleeve gastrectomy procedure, the surgeon removes 70-80% of the patient’s stomach, creating a tubular pouch that often resembles a banana—limiting the number of calories that can be absorbed (Gumbs et al 962). This new tubular stomach pouch holds a considerably smaller volume than the normal stomach, helping significantly reduce the amount of food that can be consumed, as well as reducing hunger and blood sugar levels (Gumbs et al 962). Although the gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy are the most common bariatric surgeries, every weight loss surgical procedure reduces caloric intake by modifying the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract; therefore, resulting in not only weight loss but the loss or reduction of existing …show more content…

Diabetes can cause serious health complications like heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and in more serious cases—lower-extremity amputations (Eckel et al 1). While common treatment suggested for patients with diabetes is diet and exercise, the traditional forms for weight loss has been shown to not be very effective. So, many persons with diabetes have resorted to surgically induced weight loss (Buchwald et al). Although improvement in blood glucose control is related to weight loss, a common problem compounded by diabetics is the increased difficulty of losing weight, in comparison to a person without diabetes (Dixon et al 2). The use of weight loss surgery has led to improvement and remission of Type II diabetes mellitus, although diabetes was previously considered a progressive and incurable disease (Slomski 762). In fact, some patients that undergo bariatric surgery are able to leave the hospital without the need for antidiabetic medication (Slomski 762). Weight loss not only reduces insulin resistance, but diabetes is cured by bariatric surgery nearly 80% of the time (Pasupathy 232). No other therapy has produced such durable and complete control of diabetes mellitus (Pories et al

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