CALGARY HERALD, Michelle Lang, CanWest News Service:Calgary hospitals are now picking up the tab for an obesity surgery that helps the severely overweight shed pounds by limiting how much food their stomach can hold.
Beginning this week, Calgary Health Region and Alberta Health will pay for 100 patients to undergo the procedure, known as lap-band surgery, over the next year.
The $9,000 operation works by placing a permanent band around the top of a patient's stomach, creating a small pouch that restricts the flow of food and helps people feel full.
"This recognizes that obesity is a medical condition that deserves to have treatment," said Dr. Jean-Gaston DesCoteaux, one of four general surgeons in Calgary who perform the procedure.
"The demand (for the surgery) is huge. I anticipate our biggest challenge will be selecting patients."
Indeed, experts and patients applauded the decision to fund 100 surgeries annually, but called on government to pay for even more surgeries.
"One hundred isn't enough," said Bernadette Spence, 47, a Calgary woman who underwent the surgery.
"There's so many people out there who need this."
Health officials agreed to pay for the procedure after Calgary surgeons performed 25 lap-band surgeries as part of a pilot project that ended in early January. On average, the patients in the pilot project lost 55 pounds over an eight-month period and some diabetic patients were able to come off their medication.
Surgeons perform the lap-band procedure by making several small incisions and then wrapping the band around the stomach.
After the patient recovers for several weeks, physicians inflate small balloons on the device that create even more pressure on the stomach.
Once the device is in place, patients can only eat about a quarter cup of food at a single meal and begin losing between one and two pounds a week.
Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c07c44fb-7766-4b85-afc2-06c8598082a0&k=10787
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