WHEN it comes to losing weight, surgery beats all other strategies hands down. What other method allows even the most intractably obese patients to shed 30-50% of their body weight and, for the most part, keep it off for at least 10 years? Discovered almost by accident as a consequence of gastric surgery for ulcer disease and malignancy, weight-loss surgery is now the fastest-growing surgical procedure in Australia. In a decade the number of bariatric procedures performed each year has rocketed from fewer than 300 to about 5000. And, with increasing numbers of Australians categorised as morbidly obese, demand can only increase.Despite the surgerys extraordinary success, some experts are uneasy about such a drastic albeit relatively safe option...
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