• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

JourneyLite Physicians-Weight Loss, Plastics, and Spine Experts!

Your team for all your weight loss, body contouring, and spine surgery needs! Gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, gastric balloon, appetite suppressants and more!

  • Home
    • JourneyLite Physicians & JourneyLite Surgery Center
    • Our Team
    • Patient Testimonials
    • Physician Resources
    • Refer a Patient
    • Login/Create Account
  • Maps and Contacts
  • Surgical Options
    • Gastric Sleeve (VSG)
    • Lap Band
    • Gastric Bypass
    • SIPS Procedure (Loop Duodenal Switch/SADI)
    • Gastric Band Revision
    • Gastric Sleeve Revision
    • Pricing & Financing
  • Incisionless Options
    • Orbera Gastric Balloon
    • Spatz Adjustable Gastric Balloon
    • Pricing & Financing
  • Medications
    • Adipex, Contrave & Qsymia
    • Wegovy-A New Injectable Weight Loss Drug
    • Plenity-A New, Non-Stimulant Weight Loss Treatment
    • Combination Therapy
    • Pricing
  • Procedure Education
    • Surgical Pre-op Navigator
    • Surgical Post-op Navigator
    • Surgical Post-Op Diet Phases
    • Gastric Balloon Pre & Post Procedure Instructions
    • Gastric Balloon Removal Instructions
  • eStore
  •  

Weight Loss Surgery In Lower BMI Patients

10/06/2020 by DrCurry 1 Comment

Unfortunately in the field of weight loss surgery we use the phrase “NIH criteria” frequently.  What does this mean?  If refers to a 1991 National Institute of Health consensus statement on which patients should qualify for weight loss surgery.  That’s right folks, in many cases we are basing our decisions today on a loose set of mandates from 30+ years ago, when all procedures were open surgeries with 12 inch incisions, were mostly all gastric bypasses, and had a mortality rate of 1-2%.

Nowadays the gastric sleeve is the most commonly performed procedure, and nearly all procedures are done with a laparoscopic, minimally invasive technique.  Therefore both the short-term and long-term risk of bariatric surgery is a least an order of magnitude lower than in 1991.  Yet most insurance companies still follow these outdated guidelines.

The truth is that lower BMI patients suffering from  class I or II obesity have an increased risk of weight-related medical issues and mortality.

Weight loss and metabolic surgery in lower BMI patients who continue to struggle with class 1 or II obesity, in the setting of failed attempts at lifestyle modification & weight loss programs is proven effective at leading to significant weight loss and an overall reduction in comordities and cardiovascular risk.

Also, it has been shown that diet, exercise, and weight loss drugs are largely ineffective for achieving durable weight loss, even in lower BMI patients. In this setting, weight loss surgery is reasonable and is supported by the recent American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery’s position statement in 2018 (Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases 14 (2018) 1071-1087).

Obesity is probably the only disease where we make patients wait until they are sicker and a higher operative risk to offer them the most  successful treatment option, which is weight loss surgery. We need a change in thinking here as lower BMI patients often times have a higher success rate and are almost always a lower operative risk. Waiting until a patient is heavier and sicker is not the best strategy!

Filed Under: Anouncements, Education, Offers Tagged With: low BMI

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brandy Hensley says

    08/05/2021 at 9:00 am

    Very helpful information.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2023 · Trace Curry MD · Log in