As some of you may have read there is an article in today’s Daily Mail, in which I am quoted, suggesting that many patients regain their lost weight within two years of their operation. Unfortunately, much of what I said was not printed, due to a lack of space for the article.
To support their argument the Daily Mail has quoted a Brazilian research paper. I have now tracked down the paper, which was published in 2008 in Obesity Surgery. A reputable medical journal which I subscribe to. The abstract can be read at http://www.springerlink.com/content/012pl1161010n53x/. In the same article reference is made to a German study however the reference to the study is so vague that I have been unable to locate it.
The Brazilian paper found that 50% of patients re-gained some weight 2 years after surgery and for those patients the average weight gain was 8%. Putting this into context for an individual patient who at their lowest weight after surgery was 12 stone, a weight gain of 8% is under a stone. Giving them a long-term weight of 13 stone compared to a pre-operative weight of probably 18 to 20 plus stone. Not too bad a long-term result in my opinion.
It is important to remember that the NHS will only fund effective treatments. The National Institute of Clinical Evidence, on behalf of the Department of Health, considered all the evidence for and against bariatric surgery and came to the conclusion that bariatric surgery is one of the most effective healthcare interventions available. They don’t come to those sorts of conclusions without very good evidence.
Although the article was slightly sensationalist it did make some very good points. Patients need to think very carefully before they have surgery, choose a first rate provider with excellent aftercare and work hard to stick to the advice given post-surgery. Patients who follow this advice should get a good long-term result.
