Bariatric Surgery and Your Heart

Tampa Bay stomach banding surgery has many additional health benefits besides offering significant weight loss in a short amount of time. The lap band surgery is also beneficial in reducing your risk of developing a major cardiovascular problem. This is due to the fact that the heart is under much less stress once the patient has reached an ideal body weight as opposed to the demands placed on it when the patient was clinically obese.

Some of the conditions that see a reduced risk after lap band surgery include myocardial infarction, heart attacks, stroke and premature death due to heart disease. Stomach banding surgery also leads to a reduction in new diabetes diagnosis and helps those who already have the disease to bring it under better control.

In a study conducted at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center in South Carolina between 1996 and 2008, over 9,000 individuals who had been through weight loss surgery were medically monitored to determine the effect of the surgery on subsequent heart conditions. The results indicated that approximately 85 percent of the formerly morbidly obese individuals did not suffer any major illnesses related to heart health five years after their initial surgery. That percentage dropped slightly to 77 percent after 10 years. The bariatric surgery patients were compared with a control group of patients who had other health conditions with similar risk of heart ailments.

Due to the results of the study, morbid obesity is now being viewed as more of an inflammatory disease which leads directly to the patient developing other serious health conditions. Weight loss surgery offers many patients the opportunity to lose 100 pounds, leading to a lifestyle that is healthier in more ways than originally anticipated.