SY 06-3 ROLE OF SURGICAL TREATMENT OF MORBID OBESITY.

Obesity is a pan-endemic health problem in both developed and developing countries, in both western and eastern countries. It increases risk for many common diseases, including type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, heart disease, stroke, asthma, osteoarthritis, cancers and depression etc.. Although the incidence of obesity in Asia is relatively low, Asian patients tend to have similar incidence of obesity related metabolic syndrome at lower BMI level comparing to Caucasians because of central obesity. Hypertension increased with increasing BMI but not with increasing age or waist wideness. On the contrary, the prevalence of hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia increased with increasing waist and age.There are strong evidences that bariatric surgeries can cure most of the associated co-morbidities, improve life quality and prolong survival in morbidly obese patients. In average, diabetes was completely resolved or improved in 86.0%, hyperlipidemia in 70%, obstructive sleep apnea in 85.7% and hypertension in 78.5%. Adjusted odds ratios for the surgically treated group versus controls were 0.8 for hypertension, 0.002 for diabetes and 0.028 for LDL.Recently developed laparoscopic surgery has renewed the interest and reimbursed the growth of laparoscopic bariatric surgery. In Asia, laparoscopic obesity surgery has also gained a substantial progress in the past decade. Among the current surgical procedures, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass are the two most commonly performed procedures. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is increasingly being performed as a standalone bariatric procedure. With the advantage of easier technique, lower mortality rate, rapid weight loss and less long-term complication, this procedure is the most welcomed in Asia now. Laparoscopic duodenal switch is recommended for super-morbid obesity. Some new procedures and many non-operative trans-oral procedures have been developed for the treatment of obesity.In conclusion, laparoscopic bariatric surgery is the recommended treatment for morbid obese patients. Effective weight loss was achieved after surgery and a substantial majority of patients with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea experienced complete resolution or improvement.