GI Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Patients, those considering surgery, family members and support-persons (18 & over please) are welcome to attend our support group meetings. Our groups are moderated by healthcare professionals.

You may attend EITHER the first *OR* second Wednesday meeting of each month, but not both. Please join us!

2019: please scroll down for room details

Dec 11, 2019 7-8 PM in WGC A/B Special guest speaker Dr. Rachel Goldman, PhD, will begin leading this group @7PM. More about Dr. Goldman here: http://www.drrachelnyc.com/

2020 Dates (room details coming soon!)

Jan 1: Happy New Year! There will be no meeting.
Jan 8, 7-8 PM
Feb 5, 6-7 PM
Feb 12, 7-8 PM
Mar 4, 6-7 PM
Mar 11, 7-8 PM
Apr 1, 6-7 PM
Apr 8, 7-8 PM
May 6, 6-7 PM
May 13, 7-8 PM
Jun 3, 6-7PM
Jun 10, 7-8 PM
Jul 1, 6-7 PM
Jul 8, 7-8 PM
Aug 5, 6-7 PM
Aug 12, 7-8 PM
Sep 2, 6-7 PM
Sep 9, 7-8 PM
Oct 7, 6-7 PM
Oct 14, 7-8 PM
Nov 4, 6-7 PM
Nov 11, 7-8 PM
Dec 2, 6-7 PM
Dec 9, 7-8 PM

Location Information / Directions

To go to WGC: Weill Greenberg Center A/B 2nd Floor Conference Rooms
1305 York Avenue is on the Southwest corner of York and 70th street. Take the escalator or elevator to the 2nd floor.

To go to BB: Belfer Building, 413 East 69th Street 
The Belfer Building is on the north side of 69th Street b/w 1st and York Avenues. Once inside the building, please consult the large, digital screen on your right for that evening’s room assignment and/or ask the guard to direct you.

To go to W-118: Whitney 118, 525 East 68th Street
Enter at the main hospital entrance with the circular driveway on East 68th street between York Avenue and the East River. The room is through the door immediately to your left, just before where the guard is standing. After passing through this door, take your first left, through a second door, and the room is on your right. This is a PRIVATE AREA, you will need to ask the guard to let you through these doors as they are locked. If you arrive too early, please take a seat in the lounge area until the guard lets everyone in together when the meeting leader arrives.

Our physicians are also leaders in laparoscopic surgery for upper gastrointestinal diseases and other digestive disorders. Among the conditions that they treat with this minimally invasive approach are:  
    
   Esophageal Disorders 
   • achalasia 
   • esophageal tumors 
   • paraesophageal hernia 
    
   Stomach Disorders 
   • gastro-esophageal reflux disease 
   • hiatal hernia 
   • peptic ulcer disease 
   • stomach tumors 
    
   Gallbladder/Liver Disorders 
   • cholecystitis 
   • choledocholithiasis 
   • gallstones 
   • liver tumors 
   • liver cysts 
    
   Pancreatic Disorders 
   • pancreas tumors 
   • pseudocyst 
    
   Intestinal Disorders 
   • small bowel tumors 
   • colon tumors 
   • diverticulitis 
    
   Solid Organs Disorders 
   • adrenal tumors 
   • hematologic disorders 
   • splenic cysts 
    
   Hernia 
   • hiatal hernia 
   • inguinal hernia 
   • paraesophageal hernia 
   • ventral/incisional hernia 
   • umbilical hernia 
    
   Endocrine Disorders 
   • adrenal gland 
   • carcinoid tumors 
   • pancreas tumors

We're dedicated to helping you accomplish your weight loss goals through personalized care and the latest medical advances. Learn more.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin and/or cannot effectively use the insulin it produces (a condition referred to as "insulin resistance"). Inadequate insulin production and action lead to raised blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia), which can adversely affect various organs and tissues including the heart, kidneys and eyes. Type 2 diabetes is associated with various cardio-metabolic disorders including obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension) and increased blood cholesterol and triglycerides (dyslipidemia). 
    
Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, characterized by continuing deterioration of insulin secretion over time. This leads to increasing need for medication, while persistent or worsening glycemic control may increase the risk of developing diabetes complications (i.e. hearth attacks and strokes, kidney failure, eye disease and blindness etc).Although the exact underlying causes of type 2 diabetes are not yet fully understood, a number of risk factors have been identified. These include: obesity, diet, lack of physical activity, increasing age, insulin resistance, family history of diabetes and ethnicity. 
    
Bariatric surgery, however, results in dramatic improvement of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and reduction of overall mortality. Experimental studies from our center show that the anti-diabetes effect of certain bariatric procedures, particularly gastric bypass surgery, results from mechanisms that go beyond weight loss alone. Surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes may be offered to less obese patients with excellent results. 
    
Metabolic and Diabetes Surgery 
    
The recognition that mechanisms and benefits of bariatric surgery extend beyond weight loss question the appropriateness of the name bariatric surgery, which reflects only the goal of weight-reduction. In fact, the concept of "metabolic surgery" has emerged to indicate a surgical approach aimed at control of metabolic illnesses, not just excess weight. 
Metabolic surgery includes surgery for diabetes (indeed the term “diabetes surgery” is gaining recognition), surgery for obesity and metabolic syndrome, and also surgery for weight reduction when weight per se represents a significant burden on quality of life. 
Approximately 80% of patients operated on in our program have at least one metabolic disorder such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, increased lipids or sleep apnea. 
Severely obese women have an estimated 93-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while severely obese men have an estimated 42-fold higher risk compared to people of healthy weight. Obesity also contributes to the metabolic syndrome – the dangerous cluster of heart attack risk factors that includes central (abdominal) obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia. 
    
Diabetes Remission 
    
In severely obese individuals, surgery can cause "remission" of diabetes in the majority (normal blood sugars without medications) and significant "improvement" in blood glucose in others (improved blood sugars with lesser medication). 
    
Approximately, 40-50% of morbid obese and diabetic patients who have laparoscopic gastric banding achieve remission of type-two diabetes. With gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion, the rate of remission is reported to be superior ~ 70-80%. 
    
In addition to providing excellent control of diabetes and weight loss, gastrointestinal metabolic surgery has several additional benefits, including improvement of hyperlipidemia, hypertension and sleep apnea. Moreover, the incidence of cancer is reduced in obese patients who have had bariatric surgery. Most importantly, several reports have consistently shown that in patients with diabetes and severe obesity, surgery increases long-term survival. 

Why is it difficult to treat diabetes by medical therapy? 
    
Significant weight loss through lifestyle modification and medical methods is modest at best and is rarely sustained in obese, and particularly severely obese people. Medical options for controlling blood glucose levels are also unfortunately less effective in severely obese people. In addition, a number of medications used for treating type 2 diabetes, including insulin, can result in weight gain. When diabetes is difficult to control, especially in patients with severe obesity, surgery should be considered as a valuable option to achieve control of blood sugar and reduction of cardiovascular risk factors. 

A position statement of the International Diabetes Federation recommends that surgery be considered early in the management of disease in obese patients, and not only as a last resort.