Surgery for morbid obesity. Overview.

Obesity is a major health hazard in developed countries, and morbid obesity is associated with serious, debilitating and life-threatening sequelae. Medical treatments have been unsuccessful in the long run, if at all. Operations for massive obesity have developed over the last 40 years, based on malabsorption or gastric reduction, or a combination of both. These operations are being extended into the laparoscopic realm. Operation has been found to be the only method of achieving sustained significant weight loss, with reversal of the co-morbidities and rehabilitation, and with an acceptable complication rate, in the majority of these patients.