This book is a detailed step-by-step guide for anyone who is considering weight loss surgery. It offers invaluable advice on what to do before surgery, and what to expect during and after the operation. More than fifty years ago, the search for the perfect weight loss operation began: obesity was quite rare then, but its negative health effects became noticeable. Recognizing the increasing need to help obese people, surgical pioneers created innovative procedures that produced malabsorption, then restriction, and they eventually combined the two techniques. The obesity epidemic was the catalyst for many changes in the area of bariatric surgery, creating a demand in treatment for severe obesity and its distressing effects. In fact, bariatric surgery has witnessed more advances over the last decade than in the previous fifty years. The first wave of advances during this past decade can be attributed to the gradual creation and standardization of safer, more effective, and durable operations, such as adjustable gastric banding, Roux-en Y gastric bypass, sleeve gartrectomy, and duodenal switch. The second wave of advances can be attributed to the advent of minimally invasive surgery in the 1990s. Obesity is associated with several medical comorbidities, including Type II diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, arthritis in weight-bearing joints, gallbladder and liver disease, and several kinds of cancer. Nevertheless, in many instances, weight decrease can result in dramatic improvement in health status. The occurrence of bariatric surgery has increased exponentially in recent years, and its contribution has had a major impact on the pandemic of morbid obesity. This book, written by well-known bariatric surgeons, plans to improve people's knowledge and comprehension of obesity and weight-loss surgery. Several chapters will assist you during your journey of weight loss and surgery in a systematic approach, and deliver insight into the basic comprehension of which variables contribute to or prevent the development of obesity and overweight.
Doctor Nagi Jean Safa dedicated his professional career to the treatment of morbid obesity. He is a Bariatric Surgeon (weight-loss surgeon) at the Sacred Heart Hospital of Montreal, and holds an academic appointment at the University of Montreal. Furthermore, he is involved in the training of surgeons and residents on how to perform advanced laparoscopic surgery. Doctor Safa completed his residency training at the University of Montreal General Surgery Program. He then performed a fellowship in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and Minimally Invasive Surgery (Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery), at the Sacred Heart Hospital of Montreal, which is the largest Weight Loss Surgery center in the Montreal area, and one of the busiest in Canada. With a keen interest in the advancement of obesity surgery and newer minimally invasive surgical techniques, Doctor Safa gained experience in the single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) and robotic surgery. His current research interests include clinical outcomes from various bariatric surgery procedures and investigations on the impact of bariatric surgery on Type-II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Doctor Safa holds professional memberships with the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons, Canadian Association of General Surgeons, Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Association for Surgical Oncology, Quebec Medical Association, Trauma Association of Canada, Association Québécoise de Chirurgie, American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, International College of Surgeons, and the College des Médecins du Quebec.
