Bariatric Surgery: How Can Parents Help Children Choose The Right Program? - Dr. Podkameni

Dr. Podkameni:
I think the most important thing is for them to look for a comprehensive program, for them not to look for just an opportunity to have surgery. When I say comprehensive program is looking for a program where they have a nutritionist attached to the program; they have a psychologist attached to the program; they have exercise physiologist attached to the program; they actually have program. It’s not just a one-stop shop where you are going to have some procedure and you are not going to be fooled afterwards.

The importance of follow up in bariatric surgery is quintessential for the procedure to really work. It’s extremely important to have the follow up for at least five years.

It’s not just that you increase success rate when you follow up, but I have to mention there is an excellent study that was published and was presented in one of the conferences for bariatric surgery – this was in 2009 and it was a French study because they have a very well-documented way of getting the information together. They got all the programs who had bands for instance, placed, and what they did is they saw the outcome of those patients and they saw that the outcome was better when they have excellent follow up, but not just that, that bands for instance were placed on patients whose BMI were below 50, their age was below 50-years old and they were females. That was the conclusion of that study, which is, I think one of the good studies for follow up in terms of LAP-BAND® placement.

About Dr. David Podkameni, M.D.:
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Podkameni started his general surgery training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in 1996. He then returned to Brazil, where he became board certified in general and pediatric surgery. Dr. Podkameni finished his minimally invasive/laparoscopy training at the Cleveland Clinic in 2004. He serves as medical director of the Banner Gateway Bariatric Center. Dr. Podkameni specializes in Bariatric Surgery and General Surgery.

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• Bariatric Surgery
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