Awareness is intended to make the serious effects of obesity widely known and to highlight the numerous treatment options.

What is obesity?

“Obesity is the increased deposition of fat in the human body due to long -term energy imbalance. Although the appearance of obesity is due to a combination of environmental and genetic factors, it is common in people with psychogenic eating behavior and incorrect social standards, “he points out. Mr. Charalambos Spyropoulos General Surgeon, MD, PhD, FACS, Director of Clinical Minimally Invasive Digestive Surgery / Obesity and Diabetes Metropolitan GeneralDirector of the 3rd Surgery Clinic of Metropolitan General Hospital, Secretary General of the Hellenic Surgery Company

“Obesity is now considered an autonomous disease and because of its increased frequency, it has acquired epidemic characteristics. At the same time, it is closely linked to the appearance of numerous clinically serious other conditions. “

With what serious diseases is obesity?

Obesity is an autonomous metabolic disease to a large proportion of the world and has a significant negative effect on the lives of patients. In addition, obesity is documented associated with a large number of accompanying diseases:

• arterial hypertension
• coronary heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
• Angiocerebral episodes
• hypercholesterolemia
• Sleep apnea
• Fertility Disorders
• arthropathies
• neoplasms such as breast cancer, endometrial, esophagus, colon

How can obesity be treated?

Obesity is a disease that needs definitive treatment through specialized medical care. The earlier the person realizes that they are dangerous, the faster and effectively treated.

The initial treatment of obesity includes:

• Changing the wrong nutritional behaviors
• adopting adequate physical activity
• Taking appropriate medication

Surgical treatment of obesity

“People suffering from clinically severe obesity, usually cannot successfully address the problem with conservative methods. In these cases, especially when serious accompanying diseases coexist, surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric / metabolic surgery) is the appropriate option, ”he says.

According to the revised guidelines of 2023, people with a body mass index (BMI: weight/height of the person in the square) greater than 30 are now considered a candidate to undergo obesity surgery.

Some of the modern surgical methods of dealing with obesity are:

1. Extend Gastroctomy (Gastric Sleeve)
2. Gastric bypass of double anastomosis
3. Gastric bypass of an anastomosis (One-Anastomosis Gastric bypass)
4. Cholopagreal aberrations

All operations to deal with the condition are now being carried out with minimally invasive techniques (laparoscopic or robotics), are extremely safe and require minimal hospitalization (1 to 2 days).

How do I choose the right medical team?

“Surgical treatment of obesity is a separate sub-specificity of general surgery that should not be applied by non-specialized surgeons. Successful surgical treatment requires the presence of organized centers and interdisciplinary teams, with extensive experience in metabolic surgery.

The condition should be treated in specialized centers with full logistical and medical support. The responsible surgeon must be specialized in performing bariatric interventions, with experience and knowledge of all available surgical techniques, ”concludes Mr. Spyropoulos.

*The Metropolitan General Hospital has a fully organized obesity and metabolic treatment group. After being evaluated by the bariatric surgeon, the prospective patient has the ability to quickly and reliably complete all the necessary preoperative screening to undergo appropriate surgery.

Patients are treated slightly invasive, with a laparoscopic or robotic approach using the state -of -the -art robotic system Davinci Xi, followed by close postoperative monitoring and care within the therapist.