title: Surgical implications of obesity.
abstract: Obesity is perhaps the most significant public health problem facing the United States today. Obese patients are at increased risk for numerous medical problems, which can adversely affect surgical outcome. However, these risks have not uniformly translated into increased or prohibitive operative morbidity and mortality in this population. With appropriate perioperative precautions and monitoring, the incidence of serious cardiovascular and pulmonary complications can be minimized. Obese patients can be treated as safely and effectively as their normal weight counterparts under most circumstances and should not be denied surgical treatment for any disorder when surgery constitutes the most appropriate therapy. When indicated, surgical treatment should be considered for patients with clinically severe obesity, since currently it appears to offer the best long-term results for weight control and amelioration of comorbidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus 43210, USA. Flancbaum.l@osu.edu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flancbaum
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Choban
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012449:Safety; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000009:adverse effects; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States