Dr Mark Porter Case Notes - Radio 4
January 30, 2009
Excerpt from CASE NOTES Programme no. 3 - Bariatric Surgery from Radio 4
"Yasmin who struggled with obesity all of her adult life. After more than a decade of trying every diet in the book, she managed to lose nearly 10 stone in nine months after having her stomach stapled. I have come to St Richard's Hospital here in Chichester to meet the team who operated on Yasmin to find out more about techniques like gastric banding and stapling. It's a controversial area, but there is a growing feeling among clinicians that this type of surgery - known as bariatric surgery - is much underused in the UK. In the ideal world obesity could be treated simply by encouraging a healthier lifestyle, but in practice the results from this sort of intervention are depressingly poor. And prescription-only slimming drugs don't seem to be much more effective either."
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