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Tag: BPD/DS

Shared Success- Samantha had a Sleeve to Duodenal Switch Revision

July 14, 2017 9:30 am

After struggling with obesity for most of my life I was finally fed up. I had heard about weight loss surgeries before but was always under the common misconception that it was for people who wanted the “easy” way out of a hard situation. I had been working out and reducing calories and tried every popular diet and trainer you could think of. I was still huge and each time I would stop one of these extreme programs I would only end up larger than I was before.

My husband’s cousin had the sleeve surgery and she raved about it. Watching her success is what started to open my mind to surgery, but I was only considering the sleeve gastrectomy. I went to a center in another state that offers Duodenal switch, lapband, RNY and the sleeve. The surgeon I met with strongly suggested RNY to me, but I was stuck on the sleeve. I didn’t want my intestines touched period. I had the sleeve surgery on October 9, 2013.

My high weight was 402 lbs and I weighed 343 on the day of my sleeve surgery. I actually did well with the sleeve and was able to get down to 218 as my lowest. However it was still much like dieting. It was so stressful. After a while my body wouldn’t drop the weight regardless of how little I ate and exercised. I was eating 800-1200 calories a day and low fat meals and working out and kept slowly gaining weight. I was frustrated  and honestly I gave up. My reflux wouldn’t go away so I visited a bariatric surgeon in my area who suggested that we essentially re-do the sleeve surgery to make my sleeve small again so that I would eat less and lose weight again. I got a second opinion and that surgeon suggested I revise to RNY. I went to obesity help’s website to explain my situation and a lot of people with much more experience than me HIGHLY urged me to see Dr Keshishian before making a decision. He was said to be an expert in revision weight loss surgery. I almost cancelled my appointment and didn’t have hope with this doctor either, but since I was in a dead end I went anyway. Dr Keshishian told me it wasn’t my fault. WHAT!? I had never heard that before. I usually get the shame from doctors who assume I must not be trying or that I am secretly eating something wrong. He ordered tests and told me it was “simply science” and I just LOVED him! I had a stricture in my Sleeve that needed to be repaired so since I needed surgery anyway I decided to go ahead and revise to a surgery that has the highest success rate, Duodenal Switch.

Before Sleeve to Duodenal Switch revision
Before Sleeve to Duodenal Switch revision
after Sleeve to Duodenal Switch revision
after Sleeve to Duodenal Switch revision

I was so scared of my intestines being cut and Dr. Keshishian eased my fears. I wish I had went that route the first time but then I might not appreciate it like I do now. Duodenal switch is the ONLY surgery I would recommend to anyone. As Dr K says it’s simple numbers. It’s the surgery with the highest percent of excess weight lost and kept off. I was 252 before my revision from Sleeve to Duodenal Switch and I am just at a year out and today I weigh in the low 190’s and I am still losing. Dr K’s goal for me was about 180. My goal is about 175.  I eat more fat now than I ever did even when I was 400 lbs. I enjoy what I eat and I enjoy exercising and most of all I get to enjoy seeing results from my hard work. Food no longer causes me stress and anxiety. I know with 100% certainty that I made the right decision. Thank you Dr. K for your great skill and I don’t mean just with the knife but with the way you are able to make a high anxiety situation seem like no big deal.

 

After Sleeve to Duodenal Switch Mud Run
After Sleeve to Duodenal Switch Mud Run
After Duodenal Switch Mud Run
After Duodenal Switch Mud Run

Compounding Pharmacy

March 22, 2017 7:40 pm

We have received notice that the FDA and the compounding pharmacy have changed their regulations for several medications.  Unfortunately, this affects our office and Duodenal Switch patients in regards to injectable Vitamin D and Vitamin A. In the past, we have been able to have injectable Vitamin A and injectable Vitamin D in bulk in our office.  The new regulations require that a patient be assigned to the medication, so we will be unable to have it on hand in our office. This is out of  our hands and control.

We are requesting that if you are anticipating the need for injectable vitamins that you have your laboratory results in our office at least 3 weeks prior to your office visit.  This will give our staff adequate time to order your injectable vitamins to be available at your visit.

Injectable Vitamin D may be needed in some cases of Vitamin D deficiency or inability to increase Vitamin D level with oral supplements. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin. It plays an important role in bone metabolism and structure. It has also been found to affect the immune regulation, control off- inflammatory reactions, and also be involved in a number of broad cellular functions throughout the body.

Research and information regarding Injectable Vitamin D.

Thank you for your understanding in this manner.

Standard Common Channel In Duodenal Switch Will Result In Weight Regain.

December 16, 2016 1:57 pm

Stéfane Lebel, M.D.*, Geneviève Dion, M.D., Simon Marceau, M.D., Simon Biron, M.D., M.Sc., Maud Robert, M.D., Laurent Biertho, M.D. earlier this year released a research article comparing patients undergoing standard common channel of 100cm and standard common channel 200cm. The conclusion of this article was: “In this population, BPD-DS with a 200-cm common channel offered similar remission rate of co-morbidities compared with standard BPD-DS. It was associated with similar weight loss at nadir, followed by a more significant weight regain. It might yield a lower rate of nutritional complications. Long-term randomized data are needed to detect other potential advantages.”

Our Experience:

One of the most dreaded outcomes of any weight loss surgical procedure is weight regain. This is assuming that initial adequate weight was lost to result in resolution of the co-morbidities in the first place.  As the weight loss surgical field has changed over the years so has been the cases of regain that we have seen.

There was a time when Lap bands were being revised for inadequate weight loss and weight regain. Not to mention the complications of reflux, difficulty swallowing and persistent Nausea and vomiting. Then as more Gastric bypass procedures “aged” the number of patients that started looking for revision for weight regain increased. The latest fad is the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy that are done with false sense of expectation and results. The long term outcome of Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is no where close to that of the Duodenal Switch, independent of the size of the sleeve. In fact, more surgeons are trying to get a little more weight loss by making the sleeve too tight. All they are doing is creating a significant and debilitating set of problems such as reflux, nausea, and solid intolerance.

The ideal revisional procedure for these patients should be the Duodenal Switch. Some surgeons, however, have started advocating “single anastomosis” knock off the duodenal switch. Others do “standard length common channel” rather than a Hess method Duodenal Switch. I have always performed a traditional Hess method Duodenal Switch.  The Hess method Duodenal Switch has held the largest and longest excess weight loss maintenance for 28 years, going into 29 years.  Here is a past blog regarding small bowel length.

The predetermined standard common channel results in weight regain. Study

 

Review & Update Giveaway!

August 31, 2016 6:27 pm

Keshishian Giveaway Ticket

The Prize winners are Jo and Kimberly!  Congratulations ladies and enjoy the Obesity Help National Conference!  Thank you to all that participated in the Giveaway!

We are holding a review and update giveaway for two different prizes! Thank you for your

participation!

One Prize and One Grand Prize

Prize: two tickets to Obestiy Help National Conference Sept. 30-Oct 1, 2016

Grand Prize: two tickets to Obesity Help National Conference and one night
hotel stay October 1, 2016

Conference: 11999 Harbor Boulevard Garden Grove, California 92840 Event link here

Hotel Prize: SHERATON GARDEN GROVE – ANAHEIM SOUTH HOTEL
12221 Harbor Boulevard
Garden Grove, California

Official Rules:

How to Enter and eligibility: All entrants and winners must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Up to 5 entries per person.

  1. Write a review of Dr. Ara Keshishian on one or all of the sites below or do an update on your profile on Obesity Help between now and Sept. 8, 2016 at 5:00 PM

2. Take a screen shot of the review or update with your username and date.

3. E-mail the screenshot to contact@dssurgery.com with your contact information (name, phone number, e-mail, and mailing address )

4. Entries must be a verifiable patient of Dr. Ara Keshishian in Glendale, CA.

Promotion Timing:

The Review & Update Giveaway begins September 1, 2016 and ends September 8, 2016 at 5:00pm PST

How Winners are Chosen:

Winners will be chosen by random draw.  Odds of winning vary upon the number of entries received for the giveaway.

Winner Notification and the Claiming of Prizes:

Winners will be notified via the email provided at time of entry and also published on our blog comments www.dssurgery.com/blog and on our FaceBook page. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to the winning notification email or the prize will be forfeited.  The prizes have no cash value. The prizes are non-transferable and must be accepted as awarded. No changes may be made to the prizes. There is no cash value for the prizes.

General Conditions:

By entering the Giveaway, entrants agree to abide by and be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding in all matters relating to the Giveaway, and release and hold harmless Sponsor and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees and assigns from and against any liability, claims, lawsuits, judgments, losses, damages of any kind, injuries, death, property damage, costs and expenses, arising from, resulting from or in connection with the Giveaway, the participation in the Giveaway, or the receipt, possession, use or misuse of any prize. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, inaccurate, stolen, delayed, misdirected, undelivered or illegible entries or for lost or stolen entry boxes or other errors or difficulties of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic, typographical, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Giveaway, including, without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the Giveaway, the processing of entries, the announcement of the prizes, or in any Giveaway-related materials. Sponsor is not responsible for technical, hardware, software or telephone malfunctions of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications caused by the user or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Giveaway. Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of the Giveaway or who are in violation of these Official Rules, as solely determined by Sponsor, will be disqualified and all associated entries will be void. The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Giveaway if, in Sponsor’s opinion, it is not capable of running as planned, including, but not limited to, due to tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical or phone line failures or any other problems beyond the control of the Sponsor, and select the winners for affected drawing(s) from among all eligible entries timely received for such affected drawing(s) prior to cancellation.

Duodenal Switch

August 24, 2016 5:45 am

Buyer Beware ! There are a lot of look alike and counterfeit “Duodenal Switch” procedure being performed. A recent online chat discussion clearly demonstrates the point that just because a patient is told that they had the duodenal switch operation this is not necessarily the case.

In our practice, we always warn our patients of not comparing notes and their outcome to others. I perform the Duodenal Switch procedure  the way it was described by Dr. Hess, making the common and alimentary lengths as a percentage of the total length of small bowel. This is why our patient population has very little nutritional, and gastrointestinal issues compared to others. Unfortunately when a patient is given a disproportionately long Common channel and/or Alimentary channel the patient will have inadequate weight loss. Alternatively, when patients are  given a shorter alimentary channel in proportion to the total bowel length, significant nutritional deficiencies can arise. In a shorter alimentary channel situation patients have to consume higher doses of vitamins and nutrients to keep their laboratory values normal.

I have repeatedly raised the issues to clearly distinguish the single anastomosis procedures from Duodenal Switch operation.

One of the unfortunate problems is the lack of clear guidance given to the patients. It is not uncommon, when I do second opinion consultation with patient who were given generic gastric bypass post op protocol and instructions after their duodenal switch operation. This clearly shows lack of fundamental understanding of the practice performing these procedures and it is carried onto the patient.

 

Is Weight Loss Important Before Weight loss Surgery?

June 21, 2016 7:52 am

The question of “Is a pre operative diet and weight loss important?” No. This is the short answer. In a previous blog, “Weight Loss Before Weight Loss Surgery?” I have gone into further detail about why I don’t require a pre operative diet and weight loss program.

More recently there has been a concerted effort by a number of major health plans to require 3-6 months documented pre operative diet attempt prior to authorization for weight loss surgery. Furthermore, there are surgeons who would mandate a 10% weight loss as a precondition for the patient to have a weight loss surgery, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy for example. The overwhelming scientific literature fails to support any direct correlation between preoperative weight loss and the outcome of the weight loss surgery.

Some surgeons require preoperative weight loss as a way to reduce the size of the liver. I’ve personally have never met a liver I couldn’t work around unless it was severely diseased.

Diagram of liver and adjacent organs.
Diagram of liver and adjacent organs.

There is some literature to support this position. However, one has to critically look at all the studies. Almost all the studies have very specific population and procedures that are being looked at. Most often the recommendations had been made for adjustable gastric banding procedures. There are also some that are recommending the same for Lap Sleeve cases only siting the reduction of the liver size as a reason for the Very Low Energy Diet as a precondition to surgery. It is, however, important to remind ourselves that there is no long term studies whatsoever that show any relationship between the preoperative weight loss and the outcome of any weight loss surgery.