Interview with Mr Pratik Sufi, Consultant bariatric surgeon, Whittington Hospital, London, England
Health chat with Dr Anthony R Leeds
Title: Obesity surgery
Interview with Mr Pratik Sufi, Consultant bariatric surgeon, Whittington Hospital, London, England.
The global scale of obesity and obesity related diseases is huge and ever increasing. There are over 650 million people with obesity and a further 1.3 billion people with overweight and 10.5% of the global adult population have diabetes. In the light of the vast numbers of people affected and the huge potential costs borne by health-care providers many proven methods of providing help to people with obesity are needed. These methods need to be effective, have a known safety profile and be cost-effective. Broadly these include safe, scientifically proven dietary methods, similarly safe and proven drug treatments, and surgical treatments, all delivered with effective lifestyle exercise, behavioural and psychological support.
In this episode Mr Sufi, a London-based bariatric surgery with whom Dr Leeds worked for a number of years, discussed the nature of different types of surgery particularly for those with diabetes. They also discussed other potential benefits for people with other comorbidities such as mobility issues caused by osteoarthritis and those with cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and high blood lipids.
Many individuals selected for surgery are affected by several different problems related to being too heavy, including diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis. They can therefore represent a challenge to the anaesthetist and the surgeon. Mr Sufi acknowledged the benefit of preoperative weight loss. Mr Sufi described the evidence for good long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery – the extension of life expectancy and reduced risk of developing diabetes as well as symptom improvement in osteoarthritis and sleep apnoea.
In episode four in series 3 Dr Pournaras, a bariatric surgeon based in Bristol, England (see: https://bittertruth.uk/surgery-for-obesity/ ) said that he thought that there would be more bariatric surgery in the future rather than less as more and more countries recognised obesity as a disease rather than as a ‘lifestyle choice’.
Mr Sufi noted that bariatric surgery was shown to be cost-effective particularly in people with recently diagnosed diabetes in whom health-care cost savings can be shown by three years after surgery.
Weblinks to useful resources are given below.
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International Diabetes Federation;
UK
Weight Loss Surgery
Managing Obesity
USA
Canada
Pakistan
India
Physical-activity-medical-and-surgical-management
Singapore
Bariatric Surgery
Hong Kong
weight-management-and-metabolic-surgery-clinic
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