by Tracy Martinez, RN, BSN, CBN Background There are an estimated 93 million Americans who are obese and an estimated 12 million suffering from morbid obesity. This life-threatening disease in

by Joseph F. Capella, MD, FACS Dr. Capella is the Chief of the Division of Post Bariatric Surgery in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center. He

by Marcelo M. Ghersi, MD; Martin I. Newman, MD, FACS; Michel C. Samson, MD, FRCS(C), FACS; and Laura DeOliveira, PC-S

by Marylou Muir, RN, COHN

by Ricardo Cohen, MD

by Thomas Sonnanstine, MD Dr. Sonnanstine is Medical Director, Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center, St. Luke West Hospital, Florence, Kentucky.

by Cynthia K. Buffington, PhD Florida Hospital Celebration Health

by Candice Jensen, MD; Amir Mehran, MD; and Catherine Lewis, MD All from the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, Department of General Surgery.

by Walter J. Pories, MD, FACS, and Gary M. Pratt Dr. Pories is from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, and Mr. Pratt is from Surgical Review Corporation, Raleigh, North