Overview of developments in bariatric surgery in the Czech Republic and worldwide and new trends in bariatric-metabolic surgery

Summary

Bariatric and metabolic surgery underwent substantial changes in its history. In the early nineties of the last century, the most important was introduction of laparoscopic procedures. Laparoscopic operations lead to worldwide adoption of bariatric surgery. Shift from bariatric to metabolic surgery represents another substantial change in treatment philosophy. In metabolic surgery, it is improvement/remission of metabolic parameters, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and others, rather than weight loss what is the most important measure of success.

Despite undoubtful success of surgical treatments, only a small proportion of the potentially eligible patients undergoes the operation. There are often fears of both patients and referring physicians of excessive invasiveness, risks and irreversible anatomical changes, mistrust in treatment results. Ongoing research targets these points, the goal is to master less invasive options than standard laparoscopic operations. Direct involvement of other medical specialties, such as gastroenterology or invasive radiology, in patient treatment is essential as well. Gastroenterology and endoscopic gastric plication, partial jejunal bypass and others may serve as the examples. Invasive radiology may offer potentially effective treatment modalities, such as embolization of left gastric artery. There's a trend in patients' preferences, towards less invasive treatment, even though it may result in moderate effectivity, rather than vice versa, choosing highly invasive, more risky treatment, regardless its expected higher efficacy.

Keywords:

bariatric and metabolic surgery – new trends – obesity treatment – metabolic disorders