BMI

Hair loss is one of the commonest laments in female patients after gastric bypass surgery (whether for weight loss or surgical cure of Type II Diabetes Mellitus), and is at once one of the least heralded topics in the subject. This is but natural: after all, surgeons are more bothered by complications that are life-threatening [...]

Click on pen to

In Part One, we came to the reluctant conclusion that the sleeve, safe procedure though it is, has a near 3 percent leak rate. Incidentally, the two of us at BMI have not yet had a leak in nearly five years of practice. For whatever reason though it may be (luck?), we would like to [...]

Click on pen to

Our patients are counseled in details about the pros and cons of various bariatric procedures, especially the one they are going in for. In today’s practice, most of our patients tend to favor the Sleeve Gastrectomy for its safety, ease of maintenance and less restrictive lifestyle. It also may be cheaper than the bypass to [...]

Click on pen to

Terms always change. This is because it gives a lot of people necessary employment. Take this business of changing the names of cities and countries. Take the terms which are no longer kosher (like ‘handicapped’, ‘housewife’, etc.). Has the world or reality changed because we employ new terms? Clearly, no one will claim that, except [...]

Click on pen to

In Part One, we outlined the nature of the beast. In Part Two, we dealt with ways of cooking it. Now, in this part, we will clean up the remains. Sorry to our Gujju (and other vegan) friends for this analogy! If you have had bariatric surgery and are now having reflux, what now? (Are [...]

Click on pen to

In Part One, we outlined the nature of gastroesophageal reflux and how it occurs, as well as how we detect it clinically. So let us now assume that you are awaiting bariatric surgery and have reflux symptoms. So how does your reflux have an implication on your surgery? Will bariatric surgery (after all, we are [...]

Click on pen to

If you have acid reflux, chances are you are also obese or, at least, overweight. Many of our patients who are candidates for bariatric surgery have symptoms of acid reflux– heartburn, water brash (a sudden flooding of the mouth with saliva because of reflux of gastric contents into the food pipe), eructations, etc. While a [...]

Click on pen to

Many patients and physicians are averse to bariatric surgery for the management of morbid obesity and its attendant evils of diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, etc. Fair enough, I say, but then how do you achieve fat loss when you are unlikely to be in the 5% who will achieve it with lifestyle changes? Clearly, people [...]

Click on pen to

From Medscape Medical News: Specific conclusions and clinical recommendations based on limited or inconsistent scientific evidence (level B) are as follows: • Because pregnancy rates after bariatric surgery in adolescents are twice that in the general adolescent population, contraceptive counseling is especially important in these patients. • Administration of hormonal contraception by nonoral routes should [...]

Click on pen to

From Medscape’s reportage of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 30th, 2009: July 29, 2009 — Several risk factors may help identify factors linked to poor outcomes for bariatric surgery, according to the results of a prospective, multicenter, observational study reported in the July 30 issue of the New England [...]

Click on pen to