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I read this in the New York Post today. It made me sad. I think medical advancements are amazing, but there is something disturbing about childrem undergoing these surgeries before they reach adulthood. Is there no other option? Has every other avenue been travelled? I would think that suppressing hunger alone can't be enough to bring about long term change. Some of the statements are very superficial also. It just irks me.
"Gone in a Flesh"
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/64749.htm
by Carl Campanile
June 5, 2006 -- Some severely obese teenagers are shrinking.
Eighty-one supersize 14- to 17-year-olds who enrolled in an NYU Medical Center fat-busting program have collectively shed 7,300 pounds after undergoing gastric-band surgery that reduced the size of their stomachs and curbed their appetites. On average, they weighed 300 pounds before the surgery. One tipped the scales at 530, three others at 400. The average loss equaled 90 pounds of body fat. And the total loss - 3.65 tons - was equivalent to the weight of an SUV.
The procedure "controls the patient's hunger," said Dr. George Fielding, NYU's chief pediatric gastric-band surgeon, who first performed the surgery in his native Australia. "Not being hungry is the key to the whole thing. The size of the stomach goes from a football to a golf ball." An adjustable white silicon ring, attached to a wiry, inflatable prosthetic belt, is fastened to the top of the stomach after small incisions are made and tubes inserted during a laparoscopy. The "LAP-Band" creates a smaller pouch, or stomach. A balloon inside the band helps control the size, which can be adjusted by injecting a saline solution in the stomach wall.
Retiree Ira Harris, who was a patient of Fielding's, donated $2 million to pay for the surgery and follow-up treatment for the 81 kids, 35 of whom are part of an FDA-approved clinical trial and all of whom had been diagnosed as morbidly obese.
A significant majority in an NYU survey said that they were no longer short of breath, fit in better at school and now play sports they never had. Plus, once-large girls can now shop in regular stores. "It's very hard being a fat teen-ager," Fielding said. "Being a morbidly obese teenage girl is as close to being in **** as you can imagine. This surgery gives them a shot at a normal life."
Three-quarters of his patients are female; most are white. Many come in with ailments more often associated with the elderly: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pains. Dieting has failed these kids. And the alternative, gastric bypass, or intestinal rerouting, is more invasive and more dangerous.
"We want to show LAP-Band surgery is a valid treatment for kids. It is much safer," said Fielding, who himself went from 330 to 215 pounds after undergoing the surgery. There is a risk of infection from excess skin, and some doctors fear the bands may dissolve or break over time. But there's been no evidence of that, Fielding said. And, in any event, the bands are easy to retrieve and replace - unlike one's teenage years. carl.campanile@nypost.com
"Gone in a Flesh"
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/64749.htm
by Carl Campanile
June 5, 2006 -- Some severely obese teenagers are shrinking.
Eighty-one supersize 14- to 17-year-olds who enrolled in an NYU Medical Center fat-busting program have collectively shed 7,300 pounds after undergoing gastric-band surgery that reduced the size of their stomachs and curbed their appetites. On average, they weighed 300 pounds before the surgery. One tipped the scales at 530, three others at 400. The average loss equaled 90 pounds of body fat. And the total loss - 3.65 tons - was equivalent to the weight of an SUV.
The procedure "controls the patient's hunger," said Dr. George Fielding, NYU's chief pediatric gastric-band surgeon, who first performed the surgery in his native Australia. "Not being hungry is the key to the whole thing. The size of the stomach goes from a football to a golf ball." An adjustable white silicon ring, attached to a wiry, inflatable prosthetic belt, is fastened to the top of the stomach after small incisions are made and tubes inserted during a laparoscopy. The "LAP-Band" creates a smaller pouch, or stomach. A balloon inside the band helps control the size, which can be adjusted by injecting a saline solution in the stomach wall.
Retiree Ira Harris, who was a patient of Fielding's, donated $2 million to pay for the surgery and follow-up treatment for the 81 kids, 35 of whom are part of an FDA-approved clinical trial and all of whom had been diagnosed as morbidly obese.
A significant majority in an NYU survey said that they were no longer short of breath, fit in better at school and now play sports they never had. Plus, once-large girls can now shop in regular stores. "It's very hard being a fat teen-ager," Fielding said. "Being a morbidly obese teenage girl is as close to being in **** as you can imagine. This surgery gives them a shot at a normal life."
Three-quarters of his patients are female; most are white. Many come in with ailments more often associated with the elderly: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pains. Dieting has failed these kids. And the alternative, gastric bypass, or intestinal rerouting, is more invasive and more dangerous.
"We want to show LAP-Band surgery is a valid treatment for kids. It is much safer," said Fielding, who himself went from 330 to 215 pounds after undergoing the surgery. There is a risk of infection from excess skin, and some doctors fear the bands may dissolve or break over time. But there's been no evidence of that, Fielding said. And, in any event, the bands are easy to retrieve and replace - unlike one's teenage years. carl.campanile@nypost.com
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