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Study Shows Reduced Osteoarthritis Knee Pain After Bariatric Surgery

Thursday, February 24th, 2011 by newseditor

A new clinical research study by physicians at Penn State College of Medicine has shown that patients who have undergone bariatric surgery may experience reduced pain from osteoarthritis of the knees.

The study analyzed the knees of 24 patients who underwent bariatric (weight loss) surgery. Their condition was evaluated before the bariatric surgery and at periods 6 months and 12 months after the operation. Within the 6 month period, participants had lost an average of 57 pounds. Along with a general quality-of-life improvement and enhanced function, they also reported a reduction in knee pain and stiffness.

“Each individual had some kind of improvement in their pain from losing weight, some more than others, said Christopher Edwards, one of the study authors.

Findings of this study were planned for a presentation at Saturday’s specialty day program by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, gastric bypass, lap band
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Predicted Cosmetic Surgery Trends for 2011

Friday, December 24th, 2010 by editor2

Cosmetic plastic surgeons from around the country weighed in on upcoming trends in cosmetic surgery, and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) put together a list of 2011 cosmetic surgery predictions based on the surgeons’ feedback.

Facelifts, injectables, and body contouring are three of the procedures where they are predicting growth.

As the economy improves, the demand for facelift surgery will increase, as those who have been putting off the surgery may be more likely to get it in 2011, according to the society.

Already the most popular non-surgical procedure according to ASAPS’s 2009 statistics, injectables (such as Botox, Juvederm and Restylane) will continue to grow in popularity as they evolve and new products become available on the market.

Body contouring procedures will also be on the rise as more obese people may turn to weight loss surgery given the health dangers of obesity. That will lead to an increase in body contouring cosmetic procedures to tighten and remove excess skin after dramatic weight loss.

The society also predicts that more patients will be seeking “posterior body lifts, buttock lifts and surgical and nonsurgical buttock augmentations to shape and augment their buttocks” thanks in part to celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Beyonce who have made it a “must-have accessory.”

The society sees change ahead in fat reduction techniques. While liposuction will remain the standard in surgical fat reduction, new non-surgical techniques will continue to be developed, including freezing, zapping and lasering fat, as possible alternatives to surgery.

Unfortunately, the society also sees consumers looking for bargains on cosmetic procedures. Procedures, such as “discount injectables” bought overseas and cosmetic procedures performed by untrained practitioners will lead to an increase in cosmetic surgery “horror” stories. Always research your cosmetic surgeon to ensure he or she is well-trained in cosmetic surgery.

Read the full list of predictions at surgery.org.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, body contouring, Botox, cosmetic surgery, facelift
Posted in Bariatric Surgery, Body Cosmetic Surgery, Facial Cosmetic Surgery, In the News, Injectable treatments | 1 Comment »

FDA Advisory Committee Recommends Approval to Expand Use of Lap Band

Sunday, December 5th, 2010 by editor2

Before and after photos of a Lap Band patient (image courtesy of Allergan.com)

Allergan Inc. announced that an FDA Advisory Committee has recommended with an 8-2 vote that the FDA extend the currently approved use of the company’s Lad Band® System, used for weight loss surgery, to patients that have a body mass index below 40.

The Lap Band, which is an inflatable silicone device that gets placed on the upper portion of the stomach, limiting the patient’s intake of food and suppressing hunger, is currently indicated for patients with:

BMI of 40 or higher
BMI of 35 or higher combined with a health problem such as diabetes or high blood pressure

The change would make the Lap Band available to patients who are at BMI of 35 or higher or patients with a BMI of 30 or higher and at least one additional weight-related health problem.

The FDA committee’s decision came after a five-year study of 149 obese patients treated with the Lap Band that found over 80 percent lost at least 30 percent of their weight after one year.

The FDA will make a final decision on the wider use, but the agency typically follows the advice of its advisory panels, according to an msnbc article.

Wider approval could make millions more people eligible for the Lap Band surgery. About 15 million Americans are candidates under the current guidelines for use and about 27 million more fit under the broader group, Allergan said.

To learn more about the Lap Band procedure and to discuss whether you are a good candidate, contact the Advanced Cosmetic Surgery office of Dr. Frenzel to schedule a consultation.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, lap band
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New Guidelines for Post Bariatric Surgery Care Published

Thursday, November 11th, 2010 by editor2

Bariatric surgery is becoming more common—the Endocrine Society estimates that around 200,000 weight loss surgeries were performed last year. Because of this, the society put together a task force that has published guidelines for post-op bariatric surgery follow-up and monitoring.

Seventeen recommendations were published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism by the task force headed by David Heber, MD, PhD, of the University of California Los Angeles.

Some of the recommendations include that clinicians should:

Monitor bone density and serum nutrient levels after weight loss procedures that can reduce nutrient absorption.
Consider vitamin and mineral supplements for all patients who’ve had weight-loss surgery.

The guidelines also recommended patients should have postoperative diets that include 60 to 120 grams of protein per day both immediately after surgery and for long-term nutritional management.

The task force wrote:

To guide patients through the transition to life after bariatric surgery, a multidisciplinary team that includes an experienced primary care physician, endocrinologist, or gastroenterologist should provide care, and patients should consider enrolling postoperatively in a comprehensive program for nutrition and lifestyle management.

Such support can ease the transition to life after bariatric surgery and may help prevent weight regain.

The task force also recommended that patients should be monitored for nutrient deficiencies, and they included a symptom list for deficiencies in six major vitamins and minerals.

They also called for more rigorous study of diabetes and other metabolic disorders in bariatric surgery patients, to obtain better data on long-term outcomes and possible complications such as insulin-mediated hypoglycemia.

The abstract is available online. Dr. Frenzel at Advanced Cosmetic Surgery in Arlington, Texas is an expert in the field of bariatric surgery, and he performs several weight loss surgeries, including lap band, gastric bypass, and gastric sleeve.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, postop bariatric surgery, weight loss surgery
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Weight Loss Surgery for Teens May Head Off Lifetime of Obesity

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 by editor2

While some doctors may be reluctant to perform weight loss surgery on teens, new studies suggest that this measure might help patients head off a lifetime of obesity.

“There’s certainly a feeling among health-care providers and families that little Johnny is really getting heavier and heavier, but all he needs to do is put his mind to it and he can reverse this,” said Dr. Thomas Inge, director of the Center for Bariatric Research and Innovation at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “But that is clearly not working for some kids. Until you bring up the option of bariatric surgery for those patients, you haven’t done your job as a doctor.”

Inge’s study of 61 teens found that those with very high body mass indexes (BMI) lost more than one-third of their weight after gastric bypass, but were still heavy enough to be considered morbidly obese.

“We are seeing patients…who are coming to us routinely with a BMI of the high 50s and 60s and 70s,” Inge said. “When we can get to these kids with BMIs in the 40s, we can have a decent chance of turning around their morbid obesity. When BMIs are higher than that, very often we can get their weight down, but they’re still going to remain morbidly obese even after treatment. Once they get into the high 50s and beyond, I think we’ve done the kid a disservice.”

Another small study of 50 severely obese Australian teenagers found that those who had weight loss surgery were much more successful in losing weight. Eighty-four percent of teens who had the surgery lost more than half their excess weight, while only 12 percent of the kids who tried dieting and exercise reached this goal.

Teens who are candidates for bariatric should have already undergone the majority of their linear growth, said Dr. Lori Laffel, chief of the pediatric, adolescent and young adult section at the Joslin Diabetes Center. That would limit weight loss surgery for the most part to girls older than 13 and boys older than 15, she said.

Laffel and Inge agreed that the teenager must also display a certain level of emotional maturity and have a supportive family. For more information, visit womenshealth.gov.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery
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Bariatric Surgery May Improve Memory

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 by editor2

Three months after bariatric surgery patients had a significant improvement in memory function, according to research conducted by Gladys Strain, PhD, director of research for laparoscopic and bariatric surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass, is an effective obesity treatment, but its effects on cognition have not been well studied, says Strain.

Her study compared 120 bariatric surgery patients (most with gastric bypass and some with lap band) and 60 obese patients who had not undergone surgery. Participants were tested for attention, executive function, memory and language skills before and after surgery, within a 12-week period.

For attention, executive function and language, there were no changes during that three months for the patients, according to Strain. However, there was improvement in memory among the bariatric surgery patients, which was not found in the comparison group.

It’s not clear why the patients’ memories improved. “Bariatric patients have an increased incidence of depressive disorders and anxiety and sedentary lifestyles,” Strain says. As they lose weight, that depression may lift, perhaps explaining the improvement in cognitive skills, she says.

More information about this study is available on WebMD.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, gastric bypass, lap band
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Study Finds Bariatric Surgery Reduces Risk of Gestational Diabetes

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 by editor2

Obesity is becoming a bigger health issue in the United States every day. A new study released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that after a review of the 33 leading world economies, the U.S. came in first with the most overweight population.

They estimated that about a third of Americans are obese or at least 30 pounds overweight.

One option for the overweight and obese is bariatric surgery. Through a bariatric procedure, such as lap band or gastric bypass, patients can achieve a significant weight reduction, as well as an improvement in general health. Weight loss surgery works by limiting the amount of food a person can consume.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons highlighted one of the health benefits. It found that obese women who have weight loss surgery before they get pregnant are three times less likely to develop gestational diabetes and are also less likely to require a cesarean section.

The researchers compared rates of gestational diabetes among 346 obese women who had bariatric surgery before pregnancy and 354 obese women who had bariatric surgery after delivery.

The study found:

Rates of gestational diabetes were 8 percent for those who had the surgery before pregnancy
Rates of gestational diabetes were 27 percent for those who had the surgery after delivery
Rates of cesarean delivery were 28 percent for those who had the surgery before pregnancy
Rates of cesarean delivery were 43 percent for those who had the surgery after delivery

Most of the women who underwent weight loss surgery did not wait the recommended two years afterwards before delivering a baby, noted senior author Dr. Martin Makary, an associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his colleagues.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, gastric bypass, lap band, weight loss
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Texas is State with 13th Highest Obesity Rate

Monday, July 19th, 2010 by editor2

2010 Obesity Report A new report on obesity in the United States, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010,” revealed that obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year.

Texas tied with Ohio for 13^th place in a list of states with the highest obesity rates for adults. Both states have an obesity rate of 29 percent; the state with the highest rate of obesity was Mississippi, where 33.8% of adults are obese. For historical perspective, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent in 1991. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate of any state, at 19.1 percent.

Given the obesity epidemic in the U.S., more people are turning to bariatric surgery to help lose weight.

The most common weight loss surgery is gastric bypass, which divides the stomach into a small pouch. The surgery reduces the size of the stomach so that the patient feels satisfied with less food. In addition to eating less, you will also absorb less food, leading to significant weight loss.

A lap band is another bariatric surgery option, in which a silicone band gets placed on the upper portion of the stomach, limiting the intake of food and suppressing hunger. The advantage of the lap band is that it is adjustable, which allows for a moderate progression of weight loss.

The gastric sleeve is a newer type of bariatric surgery where a portion of the stomach is surgically removed so that it takes the form of a sleeve. This process results in hunger suppression and brings about a gradual, significant weight loss.

For those battling obesity, Dr. Frenzel in is an expert in the field of bariatric surgery and has offices in Arlington and Dallas, Texas. He performs several bariatric surgieries, as well as post-bariatric body lifts in which excess skin and tissue, which is often present after significant weight loss, is reduced, and the skin is tightened to improve the body shape.

Tags: Bariatric Surgery, body contouring, gastric bypass, lap band
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Bariatric Surgery Patients Can Breathe Easy

Monday, April 26th, 2010 by newseditor

Women and men who undergo bariatric surgery breathe easier and take fewer medications, says new research published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Researchers studied records of 320 patients for an entire year, before and after bariatric weight loss surgery. They found that patients reduced their breathing medications by 50 percent 1 year after surgery.

Improvements and even resolution of breathing disorders like sleep apnea have been documented in bariatric surgery patients. However, the relation between weight loss and asthma has not been studied as extensively. According to Dr. Andrew Weinstein of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, “The results of this study bring us closer to determining if weight loss can improve asthma long-term.”

Tags: Bariatric Surgery
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