Challenges of adolescent bariatric surgery: tips for managing the extremely obese teen

This paper documents educational material presented at a joint IPEG/SAGES session entitled Challenges of Adolescent Bariatric Surgery at the IPEG/SAGES annual meeting in April 2006. This session was primarily intended for surgeons not actively engaged in adolescent bariatric surgery. The individual topics presented vary widely and were chosen in an effort to highlight important areas of clinical controversy, surgical complexity, and research opportunities. This case-based session was conducted using an interactive audience response system to capture live feedback from the attendees. Questions posed to the audience and their responses (with the number of responses) are provided. Results of the audience poll are presented for interest only and do not represent a scientifically valid consensus of IPEG members. The text is written in a dialog-type format to better represent the essence of the session and the context in which it was presented. Finally, the views and opinions expressed in this paper reflect the balanced examination of various issues related to pediatric bariatric surgery by the presenters but do not necessarily represent the opinions of the IPEG organization.