Obesity has been recognized as a disease by the World Health Organization since 1997 and is defined as the “abnormal and excessive accumulation of fat that may impair health”.
It is a real scourge of our society because it is a complex disease that affects millions of people and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
“It is estimated with the Body Mass Index (BMI), which shows a direct correlation with the amount of body fat in both children and adults. According to the World Health Organization, in adults overweight is defined as a BMI of 25-30 kg/m2 and obesity as a BMI equal to or greater than 30 kg/m2. This index is calculated by simply dividing our weight (in kilograms) by the square of our height (in meters)”, explains Dr. Panagiotis Lainas, General Surgeon, Deputy Director of General & Bariatric Surgery Metropolitan Hospital, Head of the Obesity Department of HealthSpot Kifissia & Glyfadas.
When do we talk about morbid obesity?
Morbid obesity is a serious disease with an unprecedented spread in the last thirty years, which has now reached the proportions of a global epidemic. It is defined as the presence of BMI over 40 kg/m2, without any comorbidities or over 35 kg/m2 with at least one comorbidity such as arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, sleep apnea syndrome and arthralgias.
It is a problem with serious psychological and social dimensions and affects all ages and socio-economic classes. Our country, unfortunately, has one of the highest rates of morbid obesity in Europe, both among adults and among adolescents and children.
“This fact is really sad, because it concerns a large number of people, who are deprived of the quality of life they could have as well as their good health. However, there is good news from the side of science regarding its treatment”, points out the doctor.
Treatment of morbid obesity
The most important (also) for morbid obesity is prevention, i.e. not getting there. But for the cases that are at the levels of severe morbid obesity, a significant number of scientific studies have shown that surgical treatment is the most effective method in terms of weight loss, treatment of accompanying diseases as well as reducing the number of deaths related to obesity. the disease.
Today, among those applied, there are two morbid obesity surgeries that are the most popular worldwide because they are the most effective. These are elongated gastrectomy and gastric bypass. Long gastrectomy, or sleeve gastrectomy, is a relatively simple restrictive type operation that involves resection of two-thirds of the stomach with the aim of forming a gastric tube as an extension of the esophagus, which expands into the antrum area.
Removal of the dome and most of the “body” of the stomach results in a drastic reduction in gastric capacity. Therefore, the feeling of satiety occurs earlier, with less food intake.
Gastric bypass is an operation that changes the anatomy of the digestive tract, bypassing part of the small intestine and leads to significant weight loss through its restrictive and malabsorptive effect. The operations are performed laparoscopically, through small incisions of a few millimeters (5-10 millimeters).
Obesity clinic from HHG Group
Another good news is that, for those patients who have this problem and wish to deal with it and get rid of their extra pounds, the Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG) has created in the advanced diagnostic centers HealthSpot, specifically in the HealthSpots of Glyfada and Kifissia, specialized obesity clinics. “These obesity clinics follow the internationally valid practices for dealing with overweight patients and obesity, offering a multifactorial approach that, in combination with the collaboration with specialized scientists, aims on the one hand to prevent obesity and on the other hand to lose the excess weight of the patients .
This means full multidisciplinary follow-up by pathologists, endocrinologists, surgeons, nutritionists, psychologists and where there is an indication for surgery, pre-operative follow-up, individualized surgical management and lifelong surgical follow-up. “Obesity clinics are aimed both at people who are interested in preventing the problem and at those who are already experiencing it,” concludes Dr. Lainas.
Written by:
Dr. Panagiotis Lainas, General Surgeon, Deputy Director of General & Bariatric Surgery Metropolitan Hospital, Head of the Obesity Department of HealthSpot Kifissia & Glyfada.
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