Breaking News: Bariatric Times Announces Christopher D. Still, DO, FACN, FACP, as Co-Clinical Editor Beginning 2015

Dear friends and colleagues,
I just returned from Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, after attending the Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease Institute international meeting “Prevention and Management of Complications in Bariatric Surgery.” Philip Schauer, MD, and Tomasz Rogula, MD, served as course directors and I served on the faculty, presenting on the topic “rare and new bariatric procedures.” The meeting was extremely well attended and organized with great topics and an informal atmosphere that allowed participants to have great interaction and dialogue with the faculty. I enjoyed the meeting very much and look forward to this becoming a yearly event. Congratulations to both Phil and Tom for the excellent program.

This issue of BT covers a lot of interesting topics. In “The Medical Student Notebook,” edited by Dan Jones, MD, Kyle Chechi, MS, completes Lesson #1 with a discussion on leptin, ghrelin, and bariatric surgery. Stay tuned for Lesson #2 in upcoming issues.

Do not miss this month’s “Ask the Leadership” in which I interview Jaime Ponce, MD, on his 2013 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) Presidential Address, which he gave during Obesity Week last November. Dr. Ponce and other members of ASMBS leadership review very important topics that are critical for our patients and practices.

Also in this issue, we present our 26th “Checklists in Bariatric Surgery” that reviews approach and management of a patient that needs a reoperation after a vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG). In my experience, this is probably the most complex elective re-operation since many, if not most, of these patients have undergone an open repair of a ventral hernia with mesh and present with a gastro-gastric fistula and a hiatal hernia. Our approach has been to perform a mid to proximal gastrectomy and remove most of the proximal stomach, keeping a small gastric pouch. It is, however, important to make sure that these patients get a preoperative esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to rule out pathologic stage of Barrett’s esophagus.

Rena C. Moon, MD; Andre F. Teixeira, MD; and Muhammad A. Jawad, MD, FACS, present a wonderful review on chronic abdominal pain in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and biliopancreatic diversion-duodenal switch patients. This is a difficult clinical situation to deal with, especially in those patients that underwent the whole gamut of noninvasive diagnostic procedures. In my opinion, early diagnostic laparoscopy will help rule out a clinically not evident internal hernia or adhesion. Don’t forget the intermittent intussusception that, in most cases, resolves without the need of intervention.

In the resurgence of the column “Emerging Technologies,” Natan Zundel, MD, and Vafa Shayani, MD, FACS, present the most popular endoscopic procedures for weight loss that are currently available and may become available to bariatric surgeons in the future. They discuss suturing devices, endosleeves, and balloons. In my opinion, all of these therapies have one thing in common—they do not last and the weight loss is not significant when compared to most well established bariatric procedures. I do believe, however, that combining one of these procedures with an anorectic drug will, at some point, become a popular approach for the patient with low body mass index (BMI) and type 1 diabetes.

In this month’s “Bariatric Center Spotlight” we feature Physicians’ Specialty Hospital located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who supported my nomination for President-Elect of ASMBS. We all congratulate Stacy Brethauer, MD, on his appointment to Secretary/Treasurer, and Aurora Pryor, MD, and Eric DeMaria, MD, on their election to the ASMBS Executive Council and wish everyone good luck.

Lastly, we bring to you breaking news. Christopher D. Still, DO, FACN, FACP, from Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, will be joining me beginning in January 2015 as a Co-Clinical Editor of BT. We felt that it was time for our colleagues from other medical specialties to join us. We look forward to your contributions and Letters to the Editors. Thank you, Chris, for accepting the invitation to join us. We are very excited to have you on board.

I look forward to seeing you all in Boston during Obesity Week 2014, and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

Sincerely,
Raul J. Rosenthal, MD, FACS, Clinical Editor, Bariatric Times; Interim Chief of Staff, Professor of Surgery and Chairman, Department of General Surgery; Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery and The Bariatric and Metabolic Institute; General Surgery Residency Program Director; and Director, Fellowship in MIS  and Bariatric Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston,  Florida 

Tags: Dr. Raul Rosenthal

Category: Editorial Message, Past Articles