Absolutely yes. Severe obese patients must be treated by a well-trained multidisciplinary team (surgeons, nutritionists, endocrinologists, clinical doctors, pneumonologists, psychologists, plastic surgeons and physical re-educators). This team must be continuously updated, in order to achieve a maximum of security and efficacy. Severe obese patients must NOT be treated only by a surgeon, who many times is not an specialist in this kind of surgery. They are high-risk patients, and they suffer from many comorbidities; sometimes, their surgical complications have to be detected and treated in time.

This is how the concept of “Excellence Centre” was born, i.e. an appropriate place, with multidisciplinary specialists as well as the necessary certifications and a proper infrastructure for this kind of surgery. These concepts are part of the basis that emanates from the Argentine Society for the Surgery of Obesity (SACO), as well as from the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) and the American Society of Bariatric Surgery (ASBS), so as to ensure that the patient will receive an optimal treatment.

The existence of a "support group" is very important in Bariatric Surgery. Operated and obese patients (who haven’t been yet operated on), as well as specialists are part of this group, where problems as well as solutions are discussed. Nutritional, psychological and physical re-education advice is also given to the patient in order to face the life style change that follows the surgery.

Is it necessary to inform obese patients about the new treatments?

It is very important to be accurate and true when informing the patients about the surgery, and not to indicate "oversurgeries".

It is not ethical to promise successful results, and it is vital to fight inaccurate information, intended to turn medicine into a business matter.

Severe obese patients not only have medical problems, but they also suffer from serious psychological and social problems, and therefore they stick to a solution which is usually described as “magical”.

According to Milton Owen, Chairman of the Public Education Comitee at the American Society of Bariatric Surgery (ASBS), the larger the number of people who learn about bariatric surgery, the more possibilities bariatric patients will have to get the help they need.

In 1998, Ross Fox, then president of the ASBS, said that in today’s society, where morbidly obese people are wildly discriminated, we need to raise our voices, so as to give their causes the support they lack, starting from those places where the changes can be made. Morbidly obese patients have the right to enjoy a more dignified and a better quality of life, hence Bariatric Surgery Societies’ efforts to assume a defense part in their name. If we cannot do it, then who will? The answer is “no-one”.

Is it necessary to have a permanent contact with the        Obesity Surgery Centre (CCO)?

A post-surgical follow-up led by the surgeon and the multidisciplinary team is essential. A permanent contact with the Obesity Surgery Centre (CCO ) is necessary after the operation with Adjustable Gastric Banding. This is the only way to evaluate the results, make the necessary changes concerning post-surgical behaviour, prescribe the band’s adjustments in a personal way, and detect and interpret the possible complications in order to correct them in time, so that the assistance given to the patient is the best.

Your questions are welcome!