Weight Loss Surgery

For the first time ever, surgeons in the U.S. have performed weight loss surgery without making a single incision. It's a ground-breaking method used to revisit gastric bypass operations. It could not only help patients maintain their weight loss, it could also reduce risks in the operating room.Like a lot of patients who undergo weight loss surgery, initial results for Millie Coleman were astounding. She lost more than half her body weight - dropping from more than 380 pounds to less than 160. But over the years, the pounds and the a .... More »

Imagine dropping from 305 pounds to less than 130, only to be left with the skin from your 305 pound body. It kind of puts a damper on the weight loss. So, after Marilyn Jacobson had Gastric Bypass surgery, she looked into having a body lift."You have to wear long sleeves, you have to wear a foundation, you have to wear a girdle," Marilyn said.Gastric Bypass surgery left 48-year-old Marilyn with rapid weight loss and massive folds of skin to restrain."Otherwise, you're lumpy all over," Marilyn said.As a relations manager for a local h .... More »

· First patients to take trial living without medication· Operation risky and not for everyone, expert warnsPatients with the most common type of diabetes could be offered abdominal surgery, after a clinical trial found it may permanently cure the condition.Gastric bypass surgery is performed as a last resort to help severely obese people lose weight, but doctors have noticed that up to 98% of patients who also had late-onset diabetes appeared to be cured within weeks of surgery.The operation involves bypassing part of the upper intes .... More »

DALLAS (NBC) -- A Texas man who wants to adopt an infant foster child had gastric bypass surgery in hopes of losing hundreds of pounds so a judge will let him adopt a little boy.Gary Stocklaufer says his weight, more than 500 pounds, has never stopped him from doing anything until now."Missouri courts found a way to legally kidnap a kid," Stocklaufer said.Stocklaufer is a certified foster parent and had been taking care of his cousin's son, baby Max for 3 months. But when he tried to adopt the little boy a judge in Missouri said no.He .... More »

Obese individuals who undergo bariatric surgery are less likely to die from heart disease, diabetes and cancer seven to 10 years after the procedure compared with obese people who do not undergo surgery, according to two studies published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, USA Today reports (Hellmich, USA Today, 8/25). The studies "offer the first convincing evidence that the health gains of losing weight translate into living longer," according to the Washington Post.In the first study, researchers led by Ted Adams of t .... More »

An extensive Swedish study from the Sahlgrenska Academy has established that surgery reduces premature death in patients with severe obesity. A long-term follow up has shown that mortality is significantly lower among patients who undergo surgery than among those who do not.The results are published in The New England Journal of Medicine."We show for the first time that surgery against obesity not only leads to long-term loss of weight, it also significantly reduces mortality", says Lars Sjöström, professor emeritus at the S .... More »

By DEBBIE GILBERTTwo major studies released this week show that patients who undergo surgery to treat morbid obesity live longer, healthier lives.The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicates that 10 years after having bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass, patients were 40 percent less likely to have died than similarly obese people who did not have surgery.The majority of the surgical patients did not gain back the weight they lost. And for most, health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes .... More »

By GRANT SLATERDALLAS - A man who weighed 558 pounds when a Missouri judge prevented him from adopting a child he and his wife had taken into their home underwent gastric bypass surgery Friday in a bid to win the child back.Gary Stocklaufer, a 34-year-old truck driver, and his wife claim a judge unfairly discriminated against them because of his weight in deciding to give 4-month-old Max to another couple for possible adoption. The infant from Arlington, who is related to the Stocklaufers, had lived with them since he was a week old.T .... More »

LOS ANGELES - THE first long-term studies of stomach stapling and other radical obesity treatments show that they not only lead to lasting weight loss but also dramatically improve survival.The results are expected to lead to more such operations, possibly for less severely obese people too.Researchers in the United States and Sweden separately found that obese people who underwent surgery had a 30 to 40 per cent lower risk of dying within the next seven to 10 years, compared with those who did not have such operations.The research, p .... More »

By ALICIA CHANGLOS ANGELES -- The first long-term studies of stomach stapling and other radical obesity treatments show that they not only lead to lasting weight loss but also dramatically improve survival. The results are expected to lead to more such operations, possibly for less severely obese people, too.Researchers in Sweden and the United States separately found that obese people who underwent drastic surgery had a 30 percent to 40 percent lower risk of dying seven to 10 years later compared with those who did not have such oper .... More »

Research Shows Fewer Deaths From Diabetes, Heart Disease, and CancerBy Salynn BoylesWeight loss surgery is known to help severely obese people shed pounds and lower their risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-related diseases. Now two landmark studies show that the surgery also saves lives.In one study, deaths decreased by more than 90% from diabetes and 50% from heart disease in severely obese people who had weight loss surgery compared with those who did not.In separate research, weight loss surgery was associated with .... More »

Newswise - Millions of adults have turned to surgery when diet and exercise don't work. Now, with childhood obesity sharply on the rise, researchers are exploring whether surgery may be a viable option for teens. As part of a multi-center clinical trial, UCSD Medical Center will evaluate whether or not a minimally invasive procedure called gastric banding is a safe and effective weight loss treatment in obese adolescents ages 14-17."Gastric banding is known to be highly successful in adults. The question to answer is whether or not th .... More »

KEVIN D. THOMPSONThe shocking weight loss.That's all anyone wanted to talk about with Star Jones Reynolds, former co-host of The View.She shed a whopping 160 pounds over the last four years. But when asked how she got so svelte, all she would say was that she had a "medical procedure." Well, Jones Reynolds finally revealed in Glamour what everyone assumed in the first place - gastric bypass surgery.Now Jones Reynolds, 45, is talking freely - and candidly - about her lifelong weight woes. That's due in large part because she's also pub .... More »

DR. GIFFORD JONES"Desperate diseases require desperate cures," wrote William Shakespeare. For grossly obese patients this means putting part of the stomach and small intestine out of commission with bariatric surgery.However, this is not minor surgery and patients should know the risks before making this desperate decision. This year, 150,000 bariatric operations will be done in North America. These patients usually weigh 136 kg (300 pounds) or more and the surgery seems like the answer.Proponents of the operation say it causes weight .... More »

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- New research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. indicates that endoscopic balloon dilation is a safe and effective method in treating gastrojejunal anastomotic strictures (a narrowing of the opening made between the surgically created gastric pouch and the small intestine), a relatively frequent postoperative complication of gastric bypass surgery. The study, published in the August issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer- reviewed scientific journal of the American Soc .... More »