Obesity

The diagnosis of obesity can be made very simply by the patient himself: it is necessary to divide his weight expressed in kilograms by his height expressed in meters and then again divide the result by his height expressed in meters. BMI thus calculated is expressed in kg/m2. If the result is greater than 30, then the patient is obese. The immediate next step is a medical evaluation to better stratify the degree of obesity, related diseases, their severity, and to have a complete picture of the patient's metabolic situation.

The treatment of morbid obesity is surgical after failure of previous dietary-behavioral attempts. The obese patient who has tried diets in the past but still finds himself in the condition of obesity must seriously think about consulting a surgeon for definitive treatment that will lead to recovery from obesity and from the dreaded consequences that untreated obesity will surely cause the patient (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, stroke, severe sleep apnea syndrome, esophagitis up to Barrett's esophagus, hepatic steatosis, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular pathologies). Surgical treatments for obesity include restrictive-metabolic surgeries (such as sleeve gastrectomy or sleeve gastrectomy with associated antireflux plastic); malabsorptive surgeries (such as gastric By-Pass or gastric mini-by-pass); and reversible restrictive-metabolic surgeries (reversible sleeve gastrectomy, bariclip). All surgeries are performed using a minimally invasive laparoscopic technique through 4 small incisions that allow the surgeon to work and perform the procedure. The benefits of the laparoscopic technique allow an earlier return to normal patient activities with a lower impact of hospitalization and less postoperative pain.