[Morbid obesity. Reflections on a surgical protocol (I). A clinical and peroperative protocol]

Obesity as a condition, and morbid obesity as a disease, have at present reached epidemic proportions. Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment in those patients in whom medical, dietary, and/or behavioral treatments have failed. What is more, it is the initial treatment of choice in morbid superobese patients (> 50 kg/m2). The present study summarizes and criticizes the main surgical techniques used at present, and purposes an action protocol for anesthesia, as well as some norms and advice on control, action, and pulmonary and dietary rehabilitation, in the peri- and post operative period, based on more than 7 years' experience with a series of more than 150 operated and controlled patients.

A restrictive bariatric technique is a model which allows the multidisciplinary obesity treatment team to achieve a definite and permanent modification of the eating habits of all patients who meet the criteria for inclusion in a surgical protocol.