How many health travelers come to the DR for weight loss surgeries?
Bariatric surgical procedures cause weight loss by restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold and almost all are done successfully, according to statistics.
The Dominican Republic is seen as a cost-effective and quality destination for those wanting to regain their health among a set of techniques like gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric band, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, each having their own advantages and disadvantages.
In the country, the Dominican Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (Sodocimeb) performs 1,250 bariatric surgeries each year, with very low mortality rates and complications.
At the 37th International Congress of the Dominican College of Surgeons, the president of the Sodocimeb, Dr. Luis A. Betances, assured the mortality rates of the entity is around 0.1 percent, “which is the same internationally in the big centers where this type of surgery is practiced,” he said in an interview with Resumen de Salud.
He specified that the most frequent complications come from fistulas, followed by embolisms.
“The problem of the bariatric patient are the associated morbidities such as diabetes, as is the case with the majority, which makes the patient very fragile and that is why multidisciplinary teams are needed,” he said.
Dr. Betances assured that there is an increasing number of diabetic patients looking for this type of surgery, and mentioned that when treating obesity patients will have a very significant improvement in weight loss.
Keys for success
The Dominican specialist indicated that obese patients need help mostly in changing their habits and assessing their achievement, so weight loss is sustained.
“Many fall into a depression, thus the support is essential to help these patients,” he observed.
Dr. Luis A. Betances considers that these surgical procedures have been a success in the last eight years in the country, which offers them internationally.
He considered that complication rates are at a minimum because of the safety protocols implemented in the country and said that Sodocimeb encourages good practices.
Source: Resumen de Salud