Ahmedabad, May 2 (Inditop) Obesity is developing as a major disease in India and surgeries to manage the health condition are not affordable to all. One of the newest techniques – inserting a band into the stomach – has shown some success, health experts said at a conference on obesity here Saturday.
Around 25 experts on obesity surgery interacted with about 100 physicians at a two-day conference – Obesity 2009 – to deliberate on new methods of making the surgery affordable.
Mahendra Narwaria, one of the pioneers of Laparoscopic Bariatric surgery in India, said new techniques such as Lap Adjustable Gastric Banding are now available as a surgical procedure to treat obesity.
“Under the technique, a band is placed around the upper most part of the stomach, thus separating the stomach into one small and large portion. The division of the stomach by a band does not in anyway affect digestion,” he said.
He said in the US, a study has shown that the mean weight loss after three years of gastric banding procedure conducted on patients was as high as 36.2 percent of excess weight.
The band tied to the stomach can be taken out anytime through a surgical procedure without any problem, Narwaria added.
Endocrinologist and organising chairman of the conference Navneet Shah said: “The discussions held have highlighted on the reasons for obesity beyond just overeating or laziness, which are currently seen as major causes of obesity.”
The conference began Saturday at the Sterling Hospitals auditorium under the joint aegis of Gujarat Chapter of All India Association of Advancing Research in Obesity and the Association of Physicians, Ahmedabad.
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