Image: KH BHS Ried
More and more people are affected by obesity. One solution to helping these people lose weight and literally have a better life is bariatric surgery. These interventions change the stomach or stomach and small intestine with the aim of achieving permanent weight loss. Either the stomach volume is reduced – to form a sleeve stomach – or a gastric bypass is performed, with which a large part of the stomach is bypassed.
In the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Ried, a specially qualified team of surgeons has recently been carrying out such procedures. “One or two operations per week are planned, because obesity of this magnitude is becoming more and more common,” reports physician Andreas Täubl, who heads the team.
Extensive preparation
Such interventions require extensive clarification and preparation. After an initial consultation, a mandatory, six-week outpatient metabolic rehabilitation program is on the agenda, followed by an initial inpatient stay, during which a team of experts from medicine, nursing, dietetics and psychology will clarify questions. The intervention can take place eight weeks after the first consultation at the earliest. This is carried out without large incisions – i.e. laparoscopically by means of abdominal endoscopy. Three to five days later, the patients remain in the hospital for observation. But the treatment doesn’t end there. Lifelong follow-up care is important for lasting success. Visiting self-help groups is also recommended. “The OP is only an aid,” stresses Senior Physician Täubl.
“Like every operation in our hospital, bariatric interventions are carried out in accordance with the latest medical developments and the highest standards. Careful preparation also takes ethical questions into account and provides both the patients and the doctors treating them with a sound basis for decision-making,” says the Medical Director of the Rieder Hospital, Johannes Huber . Such an intervention in the special outpatient clinic is not suitable for all overweight people. There are many exclusion criteria: age (of legal age is a must), other medical conditions, mental illnesses, mental health. It is always necessary to analyze the background to obesity and to change learned behaviors, with psychology and nutritional advice playing a major role.
Affected people are assigned to the special outpatient clinic, which is always open on Tuesdays. A body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 is considered obese. Such a value shortens life expectancy by eight to ten years. Such an intervention is also an option for people with a BMI of more than 35 if they already suffer from concomitant diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiac insufficiency.
Source: Nachrichten
