A Memorable Visit with Dr. Edward E. Mason and Family

Dear friends and colleagues,

I just returned from Montreal, Canada, after attending the 19th World Congress of International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity & Metabolic Disorders (IFSO 2014), organized by Dr. Michel Gagner, IFSO Program Director, Dr. Luigi Angrisani, IFSO Immediate Past President, Dr. Rudolf Weiner, IFSO President. Here is a picture of the IFSO Past Presidents during opening night. Over 2,000 attendees enjoyed this outstanding conference. I had the privilege of co-directing the International Sleeve Gastrectomy Expert Consensus, along with Dr. Camillo Bozza. We were pleasantly surprised that in a series of over 100 surgeons with a volume of more than 100,000 sleeves, the leakage and stricture rate was around two percent with a percent EWL of over 55 percent.  Other topics of the consensus included reoperative surgery, management of complications, technical pitfalls, and outcomes of single anastomosis duodeno ileostomies and the controversial omega loop gastric bypass.

For me, the most memorable part of this trip occurred on Saturday, August 30. Together with Drs. Ninh Nguyen, John Morton, Jaime Ponce, and ASMBS Executive Director Georgeann Mallory, I flew to Ed Mason’s home in Iowa City, Iowa. I cannot tell you how blessed we all felt to spend an unforgettable afternoon with Ed, his wife Dordana, and their daughter Rosemarie at their home. We looked at pictures, listened to unforgettable stories, and had a wonderful dinner together. We took a lot of great pictures during our visit. Here is what I consider to be the first of many more “bariatric selfies” to come. I was so pleased to find a pile of Bariatric Times on Ed’s desk along with pieces for an upcoming installment of “Ed Mason at Large.” We learned about Ed’s mother who was an artist, and I fell in love with a picture that is hanging on the wall of Ed’s office. It is a beautiful collage made out of pictures Ed collected. Dordana looked phenomenal. She continues to read and cook and make sure that Ed doesn’t work too hard. With news of this visit comes two big surprises. First, the visit to Iowa City was recorded on video and you will be able to see and share with us every single minute of it.

Second, Ed Mason agreed to give the ASMBS Edward E. Mason Lecture during ObesityWeek 2014. The Edward E. Mason Lecture will be given in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Ballroom on Wednesday, November 5. I suggest that you start making plans to join us in Boston, Massachusetts. It will be an unforgettable event.

This month in Bariatric Times, we present another installment of Checklists in Bariatric Surgery. In this 24th Checklist, we review the management of  two unusual clinical scenarios: rhabdomyolisis and pseudotumor cerebri. I must acknowledge that in 16 years and after performing over 6,000 bariatric procedures I have not seen a single case of rhabdo. I will, however, never forget a case of impending blindness due to pseudotumor that occurred in a gastric bypass patient. At six months postoperative, the patient had a vision of nearly 20/20.
In Dr. Samuel Szomstein’s column “The Hole in the Wall” Dr. Moses Shieh reviews his experience and outcomes in using bovine pericardium to manage ventral hernias.

In this month’s “Obesity and Bariatric Trends Around the World,” we present an interview with Professor Dr. Rudy Weiner, President of IFSO. Here, he reviews the current trends of bariatric surgery in Germany.

In our column “Ask the Leadership,” Dr. John Morton, President elect of ASMBS, discusses the The First Annual National Obesity Collaborative Care Summit, which will take place September 19 and 20, 2014, at the JW Marriott, Chicago, Illinois. Over 20 leading societies from the United States will be present to discuss the current state of the art and future of bariatric surgery. Thank you, John, Ninh, and Jaime , for leading this outstanding initiative.

Last but not least, this is election month for ASMBS. Once a year our society chooses the incoming leaders for the Physician and Allied Healthcare membership. I invite you all to join us and not to disregard this important responsibility. Get involved and choose your leaders.

Sincerely,
Raul J. Rosenthal, MD, FACS
Editor, Bariatric Times

Tags: Dr. Raul Rosenthal

Category: Editorial Message, Past Articles