Obesity: A Bariatric Surgeon Speaks to Primary Care Physicians

Obesity is a chronic disease, and difficult to treat with diet and medication-particularly if the patient is morbidly obese.

Here, David von Rueden, MD, Director of Bariatric Surgery at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore offers guidance to primary care clinicians about strategies that can be effective for patients with BMIs of 30 to 35 (a multidisciplinary program that includes nutritional counseling, exercise, and behavioral modification), and for those with BMIs of > 35 (usually bariatric surgery combined with behavioral modification and psychosocial counseling.)

Dr. von Rueden discusses factors that make it difficult for obese patients to lose weight with diet and medication; offers practical guidance about when to broach the subject of weight loss with your patient and what options to suggest; and what your role is after a patient has had bariatric surgery.