Baptist Center for Bariatrics Aims to Improve, Cure Serious Obesity-Related Health Condition

Jacksonville, Florida, February 20, 2009 -- Approximately two-thirds of the United States population is overweight or obese. Five to eight percent are morbidly obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 40, or a BMI of 35 along with serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleep apnea and/or severe degenerative joint disease. It is estimated that morbid obesity reduces life expectancy by approximately 10 years by causing or intensifying these health conditions.

Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective intervention for the treatment of morbid obesity in terms of the magnitude and duration of weight loss and mortality reduction.

The Baptist Center for Bariatrics at Baptist Medical Center was launched in June 2008 to offer this weight loss option to patients who are morbidly obese. The Center, headed by bariatric and gastrointestinal surgeon Craig Morgenthal, MD, offers three different operations, all performed laparoscopically for smaller incisions, less scarring and a shorter recovery time. The procedures are:

Lap band - The lap band has been FDA approved since 2001, and creates a small pouch at the top of the stomach, thereby restricting calorie intake.

Laparoscopic gastric bypass - Gastric bypass has been performed for more than 40 years and is the gold standard for weight loss surgery in terms of the amount of weight loss and long-term success. It is restrictive by creating a small gastric pouch, and also bypasses the stomach and a portion of the small intestine.

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy - The sleeve gastrectomy is a newer procedure and works by permanently removing 80 percent of the stomach. It also reduces secretion of gastric hormones, such as ghrelin, which reduces appetite.

"Weight loss surgery has been well-documented to improve, and even reverse many medical illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea," says Dr. Morgenthal, who trained at Bariatric Centers of Excellence at Emory University in Atlanta and Lutheran Medical Center, an affiliate of State University of New York at Brooklyn. "While the cosmetic effect and the patient's enhanced self-esteem are important, what matters most is that patients who achieve significant weight loss often have a dramatic improvement in their quality of life."

Because the Center is based at Baptist Medical Center, bariatric patients have access to services and specialists that support their weight loss goal. They include:

Primary care

Baptist Diabetes and Nutrition Resources

Baptist Health Sleep Disorders Centers

Pulmonology

Cardiology

Gastroenterology

Psychology

Baptist Rehabilitation and Wolfson Wellness Center

Plastic surgery

Tower 6B inpatient unit, which offers specially equipped rooms for the comfort and safety of bariatric patients,/li>

"All of these services provided by Baptist Health and its medical staff are vital to the Baptist Center for Bariatrics because they help to ensure the patients' success, before, during and following surgery," says Dr. Morgenthal.

Free information sessions on bariatric surgery at Baptist Medical Center are held at 6 pm on the third Tuesday of each month in the Doctors' Dining Room, Tower, 8th Floor. To register for a free information session, call 904.202.SLIM (7546). For more information on the Center for Bariatrics, go online at www.e-baptisthealth.com/bariatrics .