More on Teen Bands

[Guest guest]

A reasonable article, but still with several errors- like the bit about dumping,

for instance. argh.

Sandy

From the " Winston-Salem Journal " in NC:

Brenner Children's Hospital will use procedure for first time

By Janice Gaston | Journal Reporter

Published: March 17, 2009

Brenner Children's Hospital will soon perform its first bariatric surgery on an

overweight teenager.

The boy, 17, has been through the hospital's Families in Training, or FIT,

program, which includes an intensive treatment program for overweight children

with an underlying medical problem.

Dr. ph Skelton, an assistant professor of pediatrics and the director of the

program, said that improvements in lap-band surgery, which is a less drastic

surgery than gastric bypass, have led doctors to become more comfortable with

performing weight-loss surgery on patients under the age of 18.

" What appeals to us most about that in kids is that it's a less-invasive

procedure, and it is reversible, " he said. With lap-band surgery, the weight

loss is generally slower than with gastric bypass, and if the smaller stomach

stretches to accommodate too much food, the lap band can be adjusted.

Brenner's criteria for performing the surgery includes requiring teenagers to

demonstrate that they can follow a program and lose some weight before the

surgery. They must show that they are committed and that they will be able to

stick with the dietary restrictions that lap-band surgery requires to be

successful.

" If you don't follow the nutritional recommendations, you're going to get sick,

and it's not going to work, " Skelton said. Those requirements include eating

frequent small meals and not eating and drinking at the same time. Overeating

can cause vomiting, and too many sweet beverages can cause a syndrome called

dumping. With dumping, people can become weak, dizzy, confused and nauseated,

and can develop vomiting and diarrhea.

Other requirements include having a body-mass index of 40 and a health problem,

such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea or Type 2 diabetes. One health problem

that affects mostly obese young women is pseudotumor cerebri, false brain tumor,

which results from a buildup of pressure in the brain. It causes severe

headaches and problems with vision.

Teenage candidates for lap-band surgery must also have reached their full adult

height, a determination made by X-raying the growth plates near the ends of long

bones. If the plates are closed, growth is complete.