The hospital has good news: bariatric surgery will no longer cost patients anything

Obesity is usually determined by a faulty lifestyle, so increasing diet and physical activity does not have a long-term effect, the weight keeps coming back.

“Such people, who have tried many diets and various non-traditional methods of weight loss, usually turn to surgeons for help,” says Edgaras Žarskis, a surgeon at the Surgery Department of the Republican Šiauliai Hospital.

The two most popular bariatric surgeries in the world are gastric bypasses and marginal gastric resections. The surgeons of the Surgery Department of the RSHL, Edgaras Žarskis, Saulius Bulavas and Rolandas Burkauskas, perform bariatric operations that can help people get rid of obesity and other related health problems, such as diabetes, arterial hypertension, and joint pain.

Despite the efficiency of the operations, their price is high due to the expensive disposable instruments used, and the health insurance funds do not fully cover these costs, so patients used to have to “pay extra” for these instruments. Doctors are happy that the administration of the Republic Šiauliai Hospital, knowing the benefits of these operations, decided to compensate these instruments, so bariatric operations are performed free of charge at the hospital.

According to the surgeon S. Bulav, gastric bypass surgery is considered the “gold standard” for treating obesity, as it works in two ways: the volume of the stomach into which food enters is significantly reduced (up to 25 ml), and a part of the small intestine is bypassed, thus reducing the amount of nutrients in it. including calorie absorption.

During peripheral gastric resection surgery, part of the stomach is removed, leaving only about 20 percent. volume.

Both operations are performed minimally invasively – laparoscopically. This greatly facilitates the postoperative period and speeds up recovery after surgery, patients spend only two days in the hospital.

A person who decides to choose surgery for weight correction must not only meet medical requirements, but also be highly motivated. For each patient, the operation is selected individually, according to the person’s characteristics, habits and what suits him best.

For doctors performing bariatric surgery, it is important that the patient has a body mass index (BMI) of 35 kg/m2 or more and has co-morbidities: diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, etc.

“When a patient’s BMI is 40 or more, there may be no comorbidities,” says surgeon Edgaras Žarskis, emphasizing the fact that a patient choosing surgical treatment for weight loss must be highly motivated: he must have already tried all other weight loss measures: dietary changes, active lifestyle, recommendations of a psychologist and dietician, because surgery is an extreme option for treating obesity when all other methods no longer help.

Even a very overweight person is discharged home after a laparoscopic operation within a few days of being hospitalized in the Department of Surgery.

Surgeon Rolandas Burkauskas says that after gastric bypass surgery, patients can expect to lose about 70-80 percent of their weight. overweight. After marginal gastric resection – 60-70 percent. overweight. Despite such good results, patients do not have to relax after these operations, they have to get used to new eating habits. Depending on the type of operation, it is necessary to regularly perform microelements, vitamins and co-clinical blood tests, regularly visit a nutritionist. If you don’t follow the regimen, there is a risk that the weight will come back, although this rarely happens.

Doctors notice that operations have a very good effect on patients with diabetes, because the amount of medication is reduced, or they even manage to overcome diabetes and, after losing excess weight, they don’t even need to take medication anymore. With the help of surgery, it is possible to overcome hypertension, which either improves noticeably or is completely cured.