ABSTRACT
78Over the past several decades, the pandemic that is obesity has gone unabated and has contributed to the rise of type II diabetes and cancer. Now more than ever, therapeutic management of obesity and its associated comorbidities is needed. Traditional methods have failed to attenuate the incidence of obesity, which has given rise to more contemporary modalities. Particularly, bariatric procedures have been thrusted to the forefront, to combat obesity and its concomitant metabolic diseases. Segregated into restrictive, malabsorptive, or bypass operations, bariatric procedures have been demonstrated to be more efficacious in inducing weight loss and type II diabetes remission. Subsequently, obese patients and/or individuals with type II diabetes that are refractory to more conservative therapeutic methods, such as intensive medical therapy, have been encouraged to undergo bariatric surgery. The most popular of which is the Roux-en-y gastric bypass procedure, which reduces gastric volume and bypasses portions of the stomach, duodenum, and the initial segments of the jejunum to facilitate weight loss. Furthermore, purely restrictive procedures such as the sleeve gastrectomy have also become widely popular. The mechanisms by which the aforementioned procedures promote weight loss are primarily mediated by gastric restriction and possibly by attenuations in ghrelin secretion. This fosters early satiety and consequently reductions in food intake, which induces a negative energy balance. These procedures have shown promise, but additional research is needed to identify demographic, behavioral, and/or anthropometric characteristics that would better predict optimal outcomes after bariatric surgery.
