Surgical Treatment of Morbid Obesity

Weight loss surgery (WLS) initiated five decades ago with questionable weight loss, unacceptable high risk and unknown long term results, is becoming one of the most successful and popular operations in the field of general surgery. Soon it may not be unreasonable to consider WLS as the first line treatment for obesity and weight-related comorbidties like diabetes and sleep area. Between 1998 and 2004, the number of WLS performed in USA shows 800% increase. Indeed WLS offers much more than significant and sustained weight loss. Recent studies demonstrates its ability to cure diabetes and improve outcome for cardiovascular disease in large matched cohort studies and to reduce risk of death by approximately 35% over time. With explosive increase in number of cases, the young surgeons must be familiar with different techniques and possible complication and appropriate care of obese individuals.