Teens skip weight-loss surgery

While the number of obese teenagers undergoing weight-loss surgery is on the rise nationally, doctors in the Rio Grande Valley say the procedures are still rare for youths and should only be done in extreme circumstances.

Dr. Luis Reyes, director of bariatric surgery at Rio Grande Regional Hospital, and Dr. Robert Alleyn, who started the bariatric program at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, both said adolescents make up 1 to 2 percent of their patients.

The few teens they have helped had extreme health problems including diabetes and high blood pressure. They encourage youths to pursue diet and exercise plans before considering surgery.

“It’s really a tool, not a magic bullet,” Reyes said.

More obese teenagers have been opting for surgery to help them lose weight, according to a national study, but the procedure still is far more common in adults. And doctors say surgery should only be used after all other methods have been exhausted.

Researchers at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center published a study earlier this week that shows that more adolescents are undergoing bariatric surgery and more than 1,000 procedures are expected this year, according to The Associated Press. About 2,744 youths between the ages of 12 and 19 had surgery from 1996 to 2003, and the number of surgeries for adolescents tripled between 2000 and 2003, according to the report.

Reyes said he tries to avoid performing weight-loss surgeries on children because of the general risks involved in surgeries, but he has performed procedures on a few whose health was in jeopardy.

He advises those under 18 years old to follow a supervised diet and exercise plan as their first option.

But in some extreme cases, surgery can be a good option in treating obese adolescents, he said.

Teenagers and people older than 60 usually undergo gastric banding rather than bypass because it poses a smaller risk than bypass, Reyes said. The banding procedure involves placing a silicone-based ring around the stomach. Inside the ring is a balloon that a doctor fills with saline to restrict the amount of food entering the stomach.

Banding also is a favorable option for adolescents, because their bodies are still developing and the band can be adjusted or taken out later, Reyes said.

The biggest challenge, he said, is getting through to patients and their families the importance of changing their diet and physical activities to make sure there are no complications.

“The chances of failing with a band is high (because) it controls the quantity of food not the quality of food,” Reyes said.

So if people with a band continue to eat ice cream or drink sugary beverages, chances of keeping the weight off are slim to none.

Like Reyes, Alleyn said the few surgeries he has performed on adolescents have been on those who were morbidly obese and had health problems such as diabetes.

“It’s not a cosmetic (surgery). It’s for kids who are dangerously overweight,” said Alleyn, who started the bariatric program at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance about two years ago.

Losing weight can help eliminate other health problems that were associated with obesity, including type 2 diabetes, he said.

But surgery alone cannot curb obesity, according to the doctors. It takes the help of nutritionists, psychologists and psychiatrists and other medical professionals to teach people how to maintain healthy lives.

Patients are required to undergo counseling to ensure they’re ready for the surgery and the lifestyle change.

This is especially important for teenagers, who face social pressures to be slim.

“When you’re looking at teenagers, not only are you looking at the quality of life (but) self-esteem issues,” said Nancy Schaaf, bariatric program coordinator for Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.

That’s why it’s important for adolescents and their families to receive as much information as they can about the procedure and recommendations on how to stay healthy, she said.

Schaaf and Linda Roberto, director of the hospital’s bariatric program, said they anticipate an increase in teenagers undergoing weight-loss surgery because more people are having success with the procedures.

Source : www.themonitor.com