Bariatric Surgery Program

About the UPMC Horizon Bariatric Surgery Program
Choosing Bariatric Surgery
Your First Visit
Life After Surgery
Support Groups
Contact Us

About the UPMC Horizon Bariatric Surgery Program
If diet and exercise have not worked for you in the past, weight loss surgery may be an option to explore.

The UPMC Horizon Bariatric Surgery Program, named an American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence, views the treatment of morbid obesity as a lifelong commitment that involves everything from diet, exercise, and medications to permanent lifestyle modification or surgery.

A morbidly obese person is 100 or more pounds overweight and/or has a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more. Those with a BMI of 35 to 40 may qualify if they have a potentially serious medical condition.

Calculate your BMI

Working in conjunction with the UPMC Weight Management Center, UPMC Horizon's Bariatric Surgery Program offers more than 20 years of physician experience and effective nutritional counseling and exercise consultation before and after bariatric surgery.

Choosing Bariatric Surgery
Weight loss surgery, which may commonly be known as gastric bypass or "stomach stapling," is a major procedure, but it gives patients the opportunity for a better, healthier, and longer life.

Weight loss surgery can improve a patient's overall quality of life by increasing mobility, enhancing self-image, and raising self-esteem. The surgery may also improve such conditions as diabetes, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea, which are often associated with obesity.

There are two common procedures used for weight loss surgery:

• restrictive procedures - to decrease food intake by making the stomach pouch smaller
• malabsorptive procedures - to alter digestion by bypassing the intestines

UPMC Horizon offers both Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, a procedure that combines restrictive and malabsorptive techniques by making the stomach pouch smaller and bypassing a portion of the intestines, and laparascopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), a restrictive procedure that involves placing an inflatable band around the stomach. Both procedures may be done in a minimally invasive manner.

Read more about the bariatric surgery procedures.

It is important to remember that there are no ironclad guarantees with weight loss surgery. The surgery is only a tool. Weight loss surgery will only succeed if the patient makes a lifelong commitment, with strict adherence to the recommended dietary, exercise, and lifestyle changes.

To help patients achieve their goals and deal with the changes that surgery and weight loss can bring, most bariatric surgeons offer follow-up care that includes support groups, consultation by dietitians, and other forms of continuing education.

Many insurance providers offer coverage for bariatric surgery, providing the patient meets minimum requirements. Our bariatric surgery team works closely with patients and insurance providers to maximize the success in gaining authorization for bariatric surgery.

To read more about the different types of weight loss surgery and how they work, visit UPMC Weight Management Center.

For more information on bariatric surgery, visit The American Society for Bariatric Surgery

Our Bariatric Surgeons:

Alexander Barkan, MD

James J. Kolenich, MD

Your First Visit
Most patients are referred to UPMC Horizon's Bariatric Surgery Program by their primary care physician, but self-referrals are welcome.

During a patient's first consultation, he or she will meet with the bariatric coordinator, who will gather information about the patient's medical and dietary history as well as insurance coverage.

Once it has been determined that a patient is a candidate for surgery, he or she will begin an evaluation process by meeting with a bariatric dietitian and one of our surgeons.

The evaluation process includes complete fitness and psychological testing, which is evaluated by the entire bariatric team prior to surgery.

Life After Surgery
After surgery, patients will experience many lifestyle changes. Some of the most important are:

• Diet
  The modifications made to your gastrointestinal tract will require permanent changes in your eating habits that must be adhered to for successful weight loss.
  
  It is important to remember that not every surgeon performs the same weight loss surgery procedure and that the dietary guidelines will be different for each surgeon and each type of procedure. What is most important is that you adhere strictly to your surgeon's recommended guidelines.

  Following are some of the generally accepted dietary guidelines a weight loss surgery patient may encounter:

  When you start eating solid food, it is essential that you chew thoroughly. You will not be able to eat steaks or other chunks of meat if they are not ground or chewed thoroughly.
  

  Do not drink fluids while eating. They will make you feel full before you have consumed enough food.
  

  Omit desserts and other items with sugar listed as one of the first three ingredients.
  

  Omit carbonated drinks, high-calorie nutritional supplements, milk shakes, high-fat foods and foods with high-fiber content.
  

  Avoid alcohol.
  

  Limit snacking between meals.

• Activity Level
  Your ability to resume pre-surgery levels of activity will vary according to your physical condition, the nature of the activity, and the type of weight loss surgery you had. Many patients return to full pre-surgery levels of activity within six weeks of their procedure. Patients who have had a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure may be able to return to these activities within a few weeks.
  
  
• Birth Control and Pregnancy
  It is strongly advised that women of childbearing age use the most effective forms of birth control during the first 16 to 24 months after weight loss surgery. The added demands pregnancy places on your body and the potential for fetal damage make this a most important requirement.
  
  
• Long-Term Follow-up
  Although the short-term effects of weight loss surgery are well understood, there are still questions to be answered about the long-term effects on nutrition and body systems. Nutritional deficiencies that occur over the course of many years will need to be studied. Over time, you will need periodic checks for anemia (low red blood cell count) and Vitamin B12, folate, and iron levels. Follow-up tests will be conducted as needed.

Support Groups
The widespread use of support groups has provided weight loss surgery patients an excellent opportunity to discuss their various personal and professional issues.

Most learn, for example, that weight loss surgery will not immediately resolve existing emotional issues or heal the years of damage that morbid obesity might have inflicted on their emotional well-being. Most bariatric surgeons who frequently perform weight loss surgery will tell you that ongoing post-surgical support helps produce the greatest level of success for their patients.

Our long-term commitment to our weight loss surgery patients continues with a comprehensive, post-surgical support program designed to care for your emotional well-being. Many patients find that our ongoing support makes the difference in supporting their physical and emotional well-being in order to maintain a permanent healthier life style.