First scarless bariatric surgery performed in UAE

Sharjah - The doctor said the patient is expected to lose anywhere between 40 to 80kg in the next few months.

A scarless bariatric surgery was performed through the bellybutton on a 25-year-old patient in Sharjah, who weighed 180kg and was experiencing difficulties in breathing, coupled with acute back and knee pain.
Performed for the first time in the UAE at Burjeel Specialty Hospital - Sharjah, advanced laparoscopic surgeon Dr JS Rajkumar conducted a three-hour laparoscopic surgery that is expected to help the patient lose a whopping 90kg in less than a year's time.
"The patient was young and was keen on getting a scarless surgery, which is why we performed the surgery through the patient's umbilicus, also known as the navel or belly button. We already have a scar in the belly so instead of making five or more holes all around the patient's belly, why not use that single port. Usually, it requires expensive high-tech devices. But to keep the cost low, we replaced the technology with technique. We inserted three slim metal tubes to pass our long instruments through them and performed the complex surgery. It was also a deviceless surgery, which can be easily covered by the insurance," said Dr Rajkumar.
The doctor said the patient is expected to lose anywhere between 40 to 80kg in the next few months.
Dr Rajkumar who has performed scarless operations for hernia, thyroid and breast lumps, said the scarless surgery will not only help the patient look and feel good. "It will also help patients in correcting chronic ailments such as diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, lipids as losing weight makes a big difference. If you knock off the extra weight then you often are able to get rid of many of these chronic diseases," said the doctor who has performed various such surgeries across the globe.
He was also the first to do the single-port bariatric scarless surgery in Oman.
How the surgery helps lose weight
Explaining how the surgery helps one shed extra kilos, Dr Rajkumar said: Our stomach is like a big pot, we make this pot like a tube. Our stomach allows us to eat more and more and a part of the stomach allows us to eat till we are chock-a-block full. This is called adaptive relaxation of the stomach where the stomach allows you to eat more. With this surgery, we knock off that part of the stomach and convert the stomach into a tube form, which holds considerably less food than the normal stomach. This, therefore, leads to a dramatic weight loss.
saman@khaleejtimes.com