DOHA: A team of surgeons at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have successfully performed two laparoscopic gastric bypass adjustment surgical procedures.
The highly specialised procedures are recommended for obese patients who have continued to gain weight despite undergoing sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass procedures previously.
The team that performed the procedures included Dr Helmut Bailey, an American visiting consultant in bariatric surgery, Dr Mohammad Alkuwari, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Specialist, and Dr Moutaz Basha, Bariatric Surgery Consultant from Hamad General Hospital.
Dr Alkuwari said: “Extremely obese patients undergo sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass procedures to achieve weight loss, but as time passes by these patients resume to gain weight and repeating the same procedures would be difficult due to accumulation of fat in the abdominal area or to other reasons that impede open or invasive surgery.
“We, at HMC, are applying latest surgical techniques to reduce the size of the gastric bypass to help the patients minimise their food intake thus serving the weight loss purpose. This procedure can be performed laparoscopically.”
The same procedure is performed in a few hospitals in Europe and the US, and the ones recently performed at HMC were the first of its kind in the Middle East, Dr Alkuwari added.
“The outcome of the gastric bypass adjustment procedure depends heavily on the patient’s strict adherence to prescribed diets that would prevent the bypass orifice from dilation or enlargement.
“Ten to fifteen per cent of patients who undergo sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass procedures regain weight after some time, and with this type of bariatric surgical procedure these patients have a good chance for a complication-free solution,” said Dr Alkuwari.
“Bariatric surgery takes one hour and is performed under general anaesthesia. The patient is usually put on a liquid diet 12 hours after the procedure and may be discharged 48 hours later. For postoperative follow-up, the patient is seen on a quarterly basis for the first year and biannually thereafter.
“More patients are scheduled for gastric bypass adjustment procedure within the next two months at Hamad General Hospital, he added.”
The Peninsula
