Posts Tagged ‘bariatric surgery’

Life Is Better 15 years After Metabolic Surgery

July 18, 2024 — The excitement of the moment we are in for obesity care can make it hard to step back and take a long view. But a new study in the International Journal of Obesity offers a good reminder about the importance of doing just that. Hanna Konttinen and colleagues offer us a good, objective view of […]

How Often Does Metabolic Surgery Cure Sleep Apnea?

April 6, 2024 — Sleep apnea is a complication of obesity and at the same time, obesity can be a complication of sleep apnea. This two-way relationship sets up a problem that is serious and can be hard to resolve. But it deserves close attention because it can lead to an early death. So, given the tangled relationship between […]

Possible Benefits for Brain Function from Obesity Treatment

February 20, 2024 — The potential for benefits to brain function with effective obesity treatment is becoming difficult to miss. In particular, a new observational study of brain function in a cohort of patients receiving metabolic surgery for treatment of obesity is drawing much attention right now in JAMA Network Open. It suggests the possibility of a lasting benefit […]

Want to Control Hypertension? Treating Obesity Helps

February 8, 2024 — This is not exactly startling news. But two new studies this week do offer a very clear confirmation of one of the important benefits that comes from treating obesity – unmistakably better control of hypertension. One reason this is important is the substantial amount of disinformation that circulates to suggest obesity is not a real […]

Incentives for Metabolic Surgery in Response to GLP-1 Medicines

January 17, 2024 — Over the past year, as the world has embraced GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide for obesity, we have heard much speculation about dire prospects for the future of metabolic surgery. Stock prices dropped earlier this year for medical device companies with big investments in bariatric surgery when Intuitive Surgical announced they were seeing a slowdown in […]

Closing Out Summer with IFSO in Naples

August 30, 2023 — This comes as an early morning post of anticipation. Right now we are in a dark plane over the North Atlantic, anticipating two things. First we anticipate two intense days that will begin with a jolt as we land in a bright (and possibly wet) morning in Naples, Italy, for the IFSO meeting that started […]

More Evidence That Metabolic Surgery Lowers Cancer Risk

August 24, 2023 — Let’s start with a few simple facts. Obesity causes cancer. Not every kind of cancer, but for at least a dozen types of cancer, obesity can clearly play a causal role. Scientists attribute between four and eight percent of all cancers to obesity. It is also true that, for now, the most effective single treatment […]

Surgery Plus a GLP-1: One Plus One Equals Three?

August 16, 2023 — “If you thought that GLP-1 agonists would replace bariatric surgery you are wrong.” Neil Floch is not alone in saying this and new research adds to the reasons we suspect that he is right. In JAMA Surgery, Jessica Mok and colleagues tell us that one plus one equals three with the combination of bariatric surgery […]

CBT After Metabolic Surgery: Tell the Story You Like

August 5, 2023 — Often in scientific research we find a tension between answering a question and telling a story. A recent study of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) after metabolic surgery offers a case in point. The scientists who designed this study wanted to answer a simple question. Does CBT improve the the clinical outcome of weight reduction? Or […]

Sleep Apnea, Metabolic Surgery, and the Risk of Death

June 30, 2023 — At the ASMBS Annual Meeting this week, a new study of major bad outcomes in people with both obesity and sleep apnea reminds us why metabolic surgery remains an important option for comprehensive obesity care. The risk of death, heart attacks, strokes, and other major bad cardiovascular outcomes is 37 percent lower if a person […]