Bariatric surgery in morbidly obese adolescents: A 4-year follow-up of ten patients

Introduction. In cases that do not respond to non-surgical multidisciplinary treatment regimes, it seems the only possibility to offer bariatric surgical procedures. Methods. All ten patients (17.3 +/- 3 years old; body mass index (BMI): 49.1 +/- 6.8 kg/m(2)), who underwent bariatric surgery because of their morbid obesity at the Medical University of Vienna were included in the study and underwent medical care, psychological and nutritional treatment from a physician, a psychologist, and a nutrition expert before and after surgery (follow-up for a mean of 41 +/- 15.6 months) at regular intervals. Results. In total, all patients had a BMI loss of -10. 33 kg/m(2), standard deviation, SD +/- 6.6 (range from -3.3 to -25.07) at follow-up after 41 months, SD +/- 15 months (range from 3 to 57), two patients dropped out because of lack of compliance. From a psychological perspective, the actual psychological condition was measured by five different psychological tests, e.g., 80% had a high score for depression, and 40% had negative self-acceptance. Discussion. The laparascopic gastric banding operation was not as effective in weight reduction as expected. We have to turn our attention to compliance, postoperative treatment and the psychological component.