Gastric bypass more effective than other procedures, studies find
The older weight-loss surgery is no riskier than Lap-Band or gastric sleeving, and better for those with severe obesity and weight-related medical conditions, two studies suggest.
Less than a week after the Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of Lap-Band weight-loss surgery to 11 million new patients, a pair of studies has found that a different, older procedure is more effective and no riskier than either the Lap-Band or another less-drastic surgery, sleeve gastrectomy.
In the first head-to-head comparison of weight-loss surgeries widely used in the United States, UC San Francisco researchers found that those who had their stomach capacity reduced by a Roux-en-Y bypass, which reduces the stomach’s capacity and bypasses a part of the intestine, lost more weight, required less diabetes medication and were less likely to need further surgery than those who received the Lap-Band. Continue reading →
In a city awash with splashy billboards featuring svelte models urging the obese to call 1-800-GET-THIN, it might seem that bariatric surgeon Ted Khalili couldn’t be more pleased.
The veteran Cedars-Sinai Medical Center doctor has performed more than 4,000 gastric procedures in the past decade, including hundreds using the hottest technique: the Lap-Band device that squeezes the opening to the stomach.
But he’s not pleased with the ads – and the recent news about his profession.
In the past several months, local coverage about four patient deaths after Lap-Band surgeries – and the characterization of some practices as gastric “surgery mills” – has put all bariatric surgeons on the defensive.
“The Lap-Band is the safest approved surgical procedure for weight loss, but traditional advertising doesn’t send the right message that this is a serious surgical procedure,” claims Khalili, whose Khalili Center for Bariatric Care practice is expanding next month to five surgical suites adjacent to his medical practice.
The FDA’s approval to widen Lap-Band eligibility presents opportunity for Allergan but raises concerns about patient risks.
The FDA has cleared the way for marketing the Lap-Band procedure to people who are significantly less obese than those who qualify now. (Mariah Tauger, Los Angeles Times / February 17, 2011)
By P.J. Huffstutter and Andrew Zajac
Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington
Pharmaceutical giant Allergan Inc. stands to win big from the federal government’s decision to make Lap-Band weight-loss surgery available to more overweight Americans.
TOGA Weight Loss Procedure – Incision Free Bariatric Surgery
A new endoscopic surgical procedure is helping patients lose weight and avoid the scars.
A new scarless procedure known as TOGA is changing the face of bariatric surgery. This incision free treatment helps patients to lose weight as with other bariatric weight loss surgeries, but this procedure is doesn’t need a scalpel.
“This is quite different,” says Dr. Gregg Nishi of the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care in Beverly Hills. “You wouldn’t really even put it in the same category with the other bariatric surgeries.” He says that all of the other weight loss operations involve cutting through the stomach to get to the internal organs. TOGA on the other hand, is endoscopic.
“The TOGA is a new wave of technology which involves endoscopic procedures where you put devices down the mouth and in the esophagus and operate on the stomach from within,” describes Dr. Nishi.
Allergan gets the go-ahead to change market their gastric banding device to less obese patients.
The FDA has approved the marketing and use of the Lap-Band device for surgical weight loss to less obese patients. Last December, an advisory panel voted to approve this change and now that the official approval has been granted, the marketing changes can begin.
Lap-Band is made by Allergan, the same medical manufacturer that brings us Botox and Latisse. It shrinks the stomach so obese patients can more easily cut back on their eating and lose the dangerous extra pounds that may be threatening their lives.
With 2 deaths in recent months making headlines, it’s important to identify how to be as safe as possible when undergoing buttock augmentation.
There has been concern recently regarding deadly buttock augmentation procedures performed using silicone injections. Claudia Adusei, a 20 year old student from London, traveled to Philadelphia where she underwent injections of silicone into her buttocks hoping to add volume and create the much sought after figure now popular. The injections were performed in her hotel room and she died a day later. The procedure is believed to have been performed by an unlicensed person who CNN reports is a transgender hip hop singer. Continue reading →
Chasing shifting body ideals: Homework still a must
By Stacey Burling, Inquirer Staff Writer
Blame it on Jennifer Lopez.
She and other entertainers with bodacious backsides – Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Kim Kardashian among them – have helped make many women feel insecure about yet another part of their bodies: their butts.
Once a piece of real estate that almost no woman would want to enlarge, the ideal butt for some now must be round as a balloon, perky, and well-defined. That’s hard to achieve naturally when you’re also striving for the anorexic look or fighting the sags and realignment that age and gravity inevitably bring.
Hence a new demand for butt-enhancing medical procedures – a desire that had tragic consequences last week when an English medical tourist died after black-market butt injections she received in a hotel room near Philadelphia International Airport.
There are legitimate ways to plump up a bottom, but this isn’t one of them. Doctors said there have always been cut-rate cosmetic procedures, and publicity about plastic surgery is lulling more women into thinking it’s no big deal. As last week’s case proved, you’re better off with a pro. A big clue: Board-certified plastic surgeons don’t work in hotel rooms.
Dr. Constantino Mendieta discusses Butt Augmentations with CNN
Dr. Constantino Mendieta, one of the world’s true great butt augmentation experts, appeared on CNN to explain butt augmentation techniques and warn viewers about the issues surrounding the death of an English woman who flew in to Philadelphia to receive illegal injections from a non-licensed person.
Buttocks-boosting shots have become one of the most conspicuously dangerous of cosmetic procedures, but patients keep getting them.
News stories of patients dying in a quest for a bigger booty keep turning up. The deaths tend to occur in patients seeking low-priced alternatives to more costly treatments such as buttock implants.
The latest fatality was a British woman who traveled from London last week to get buttocks-enhancement injections of silicone in a hotel room at a Hampton Inn near the Philadelphia airport.
Would you gain lots of weight to make your health worse on purpose? A Rancho Cucamonga woman did just that, gaining 85 pounds so she would qualify for weight-loss surgery.Four years ago, Rebecca Blair, 51, was taking five different medications to control Type 2 diabetes. Besides drugs, she tried everything to get her blood sugar under control. Blair says one of the drugs she was taking was hurting her kidneys, so she was looking for alternatives.One day she saw a documentary about gastric bypass surgery and how it helps patients with diabetes.
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Blame it on Jennifer Lopez.
