An interdisciplinary panel of specialists met in Mallorca in the first European Symposium on Morbid Obesity entitled; "Morbid Obesity, an Interdisciplinary Approach". During the two and half days of the meeting, the participants discussed several aspects related to pathogenesis, evaluation, and treatment of morbid obesity. The expert panel included basic research scientists, dietitians and nutritionists, exercise physiologists, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, cardiologists, pneumonologists, anesthesiologists, and bariatric surgeons with expertise in the different weight loss surgeries. The symposium was sponsored by the Balearic Islands Health Department; however, this statement is an independent report of the panel and is not a policy statement of any of the sponsors or endorsers of the Symposium. The prevalence of morbid obesity, the most severe state of the disease, has become epidemic. The current recommendations for the therapy of the morbidly obese comes as a result of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference held in 1991 and subsequently reviewed in 2004 by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. This document reviews the work-up evaluation of the morbidly obese patient, the current status of the indications for bariatric surgery and which type of procedure should be recommended; it also brings up for discussion some important real-life clinical practice issues, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating and treating morbidly obese patients. Finally, it also goes through current scientific evidence supporting the potential effectiveness of medical therapy as treatment of patients with morbid obesity.

Lymph node involvement in adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (EGJ) is similar to that of gastric cancer. The impact on survival of the number and site of lymph nodes involved in a subgroup of patients undergone surgery for adenocarcinoma of EGJ is reported. Sixty-four patients undergone transthoracic esophagectomy with two-field lymphadenectomy for adenocarcinoma of the EGJ were retrospectively assessed. Five-year survival according to AJCC gastric cancer nodal classification and central node invasion was evaluated. In N0 patients survival was assessed in relation to the number of lymph nodes removed. Five-year survival was 72% in N0, 46% in N1 and 0% in N2 and N3 group. Intergroup differences were statistically significant (P<0.05) except between N2 and N3 groups. Overall survival was different depending on the infiltration of distal or proximal site nodes, 23% vs. 58% (P<0.05); in N0 patients it was related to the number of lymph nodes removed (83% >15 vs. 57% <15, P<0.05). Classification of lymph node involvement in adenocarcinoma of the EGJ by gastric cancer criteria is adequate for prognostic purposes. The involvement of distal nodes in all cases and the removal of <15 nodes in N0 group resulted as independent negative predictive factors.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Background: The prevalence of obesity is increasing globally. Objectives: To evaluate whether gastric bypass surgery modifies the bioavailability and pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters of Omeprazole. Setting: Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. Methods: Controlled, open-label, bioavailability clinical trial in patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Healthy patients with obesity (BMI>35) were included and assessed for Omeprazole PK before RYGB and after (1 and 6 months). PK sampling was done at baseline and several times up to 12 h after drug dosing. Pre- and post-surgery parameters were compared using paired ANOVA or Wilcoxon tests, and Control vs. Cases using ANOVA or Mann Whitney tests. Given the post-surgery change in body weight, parameters were corrected by dose/body-weight. Results: Fourteen Case and 24 Control subjects were recruited, 92% were women (N= 35/38). In patients who underwent RYGB, Cmax was significantly reduced at 1 and 6 months after surgery compared with pre-surgery values (p=0.001). Regarding the AUC, the values are lower at 1 and 6 months after surgery than at baseline (p<0.001).The drug clearance was also increased in the first month after surgery. No differences were found between patients 6 months after surgery and Controls. Cmax and AUC corrected by dose/body-weight were significantly different between the baseline surgery subjects and Controls. Conclusions: Omeprazole bioavailability is reduced in patients with obesity at 1 and 6 months after RYGB. However, Omeprazole PK parameters 6 months after RYGB are similar to control subjects, and thus no dose correction is required after RYGB for a given indication.

No abstract

No abstract