News / Health
Overweight Zim woman successfully undergoes surgery
22 Jul 2012 at 06:07hrs | Views
An overweight Zimbabwean woman, weighing 230kg, has successfully undergone surgery in India to reduce the size of her stomach.
According to reports, a team of doctors at the Care Institute of Medical Services in the city of Ahmedabad performed a high-risk bariatric surgery, believed to be the first of its kind in that country.
The team of seven doctors that included bariatric surgeons, cardiologists and anaesthetists performed the surgery on a 28-year-old Zimbabwean, who cannot be named for privacy reasons.
Bariatric surgery promotes weight loss by changing the digestive system's anatomy, limiting the amount of food that can be eaten and digested.
"What is unique about this case is that the patient also had a heart condition due to which her heart was functioning only at 20 percent of its actual capacity.
This was a 100 percent risky surgery, but excellent team work and positive outlook of the patient, among others, helped," said Dr Manish Khaitan, a bariatric surgeon.
He said the patient was informed of the risk involved.
"Yet they were willing to go for it, for without the surgery she would not have a healthy life anyway," he said.
He said initially, when the woman approached them a year ago, they had sent her back as it was too risky.
"She was morbidly obese and her heart was functioning at 20 percent of its actual capacity. Hence, we refused saying it was extremely risky to operate on her," said Dr Khaitan.
He said the Zimbabwean came back a year later, when she had lost 15kg by dieting.
The woman, who had been obese as a child, had developed a viral infection in her childhood that also affected her heart, leading to the condition.
"She was first given medicine for her heart condition and when her clinical indicators improved we decided to operate on her.
"But, even at the time of the operation, her heart was still functioning at below normal levels," said Dr Anish Chandarana, another physician who attended to her.
According to reports, a team of doctors at the Care Institute of Medical Services in the city of Ahmedabad performed a high-risk bariatric surgery, believed to be the first of its kind in that country.
The team of seven doctors that included bariatric surgeons, cardiologists and anaesthetists performed the surgery on a 28-year-old Zimbabwean, who cannot be named for privacy reasons.
Bariatric surgery promotes weight loss by changing the digestive system's anatomy, limiting the amount of food that can be eaten and digested.
"What is unique about this case is that the patient also had a heart condition due to which her heart was functioning only at 20 percent of its actual capacity.
This was a 100 percent risky surgery, but excellent team work and positive outlook of the patient, among others, helped," said Dr Manish Khaitan, a bariatric surgeon.
He said the patient was informed of the risk involved.
He said initially, when the woman approached them a year ago, they had sent her back as it was too risky.
"She was morbidly obese and her heart was functioning at 20 percent of its actual capacity. Hence, we refused saying it was extremely risky to operate on her," said Dr Khaitan.
He said the Zimbabwean came back a year later, when she had lost 15kg by dieting.
The woman, who had been obese as a child, had developed a viral infection in her childhood that also affected her heart, leading to the condition.
"She was first given medicine for her heart condition and when her clinical indicators improved we decided to operate on her.
"But, even at the time of the operation, her heart was still functioning at below normal levels," said Dr Anish Chandarana, another physician who attended to her.
Source - SN
