Bariatric Surgery

Introduction

Bariatric surgery is a surgery performed to reduce the size of the stomach with either a gastric band or removal of a portion of stomach. A portion of stomach is removed through procedures like sleeve gastrectomy or biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch or by resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch.

Result: As a result, a person who had bariatric surgery will have a limited stomach pouch to accommodate limited food. Hence, there are significant long-term benefits like loss of weight, recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and a reduction in mortality of 23% from 40%.

Who needs bariatric surgery?

The U.S. National Institutes of Health recommends bariatric surgery for obese people with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40, and for people with BMI of 35 and serious coexisting medical conditions such as diabetes.

Understanding BMI: The body mass index is a measure of human body shape based on one's height and mass.

BMI= mass(kg)/[height(m)]^2

How to evaluate if one needs bariatric surgery?

Step 1: Calculate your BMI - Click Here

Step 2: Check the category of your BMI

Category	BMI range - kg/m2
Very severely underweight	less than 15
Severely underweight	from 15.0 to 16.0
Underweight	from 16.0 to 18.5
Normal (healthy weight)	from 18.5 to 25
Overweight	from 25 to 30
Obese Class I (Moderately obese)	from 30 to 35
Obese Class II (Severely obese)	from 35 to 40
Obese Class III (Very severely obese)	over 40

Step 3: If your BMI is less than 35, with no other complications then you can definitely eliminate Bariatric Surgery as an option, and look for other alternative and natural way of reducing weight.

Step 4: If your BMI is above 35, with co-existing health problems like Diabetes then you may further evaluate if you need Bariatric Surgery considering the factors below

Age
Physical Fitness
Metabolic Rate
Other natural ways (Exercising, Yoga, Diet and Physical Activity)
Life Style
Family Support
And Financial Budget

Step 5: If you have decided to go for Bariatric Surgery, consult a specialist and get a complete counseling. You may have to include these questions in the counseling session.