Bariatric surgery: three remarks and an addendum at the begining of 2010

Abstract

Surgical methods of loosing weight have been initially almost exclusively used in "morbid" obesity, a special phenotype of this syndrome beyond the possibilities of traditional therapeutic resources. The number of surgical interventions ( the ~ 300.000/year in USA) may seem impressive, although the calculated percent of obese patients treated by this procedures may seem insignificant. I am sure that the failures of this procedure or at least partial failures (a drop in weight from 160 to 130 kg for instance, which might be considered a major success!) are more numerous than some statistics report .