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In a recent study from the excellent research team at The Cleveland Clinic, investigators reported the results of obese individuals who acquired COVID-19. They compared two matched groups among a total of 363 COVID-19 patients: one group with obesity and one group with prior morbid obesity but having had weight-loss surgery. The findings were significant. No weight-loss surgery patient required the ICU, mechanical ventilation, or dialysis,…
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The recently released two-year study of 141 patients with urinary incontinence treated with the sacral neuromodulation (SNM) device showed excellent results at the two-year mark. SNM is a twenty-year-old therapy that has been increasingly refined in recent years. The thirty-minute procedure involves placement of a small chip-like device under the skin near a person’s back pocket, and gentle current awakens the sphincters and pelvic floor…
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Sacral neuromodulation (SNM) is a well-proven treatment that restores bladder and bowel control successfully with a minimalist outpatient procedure. Approximately 90% of patients experience success resolving bowel and bladder incontinence, even when prior treatments have failed. The technology has proven so useful that centers have begun using the SNM system to preserve and restore bowel function after complex surgery for conditions including rectal cancers in…
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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is a quote attributed to Ben Franklin. In medicine, we have all learned quite well over the years that prevention is often the best treatment. This has held true for a range of health conditions, from the simple to the complex. Wearing seatbelts prevents injuries with car accidents. Smoking cessation and weight loss prevent heart…
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For Dr. Sasse's patient Evangelina, metabolic surgery was about more than improving her physical health. It was about changing her mental health too. "I felt that my esteem sunk below zero. I was so embarrassed to show up to functions no matter how many nice outfits I had to wear," she says. "There was no hiding my obesity." Making the Decision At 56 years of…
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Just published in the Lancet, a preeminent medical journal, a recent European study with more than 10 years of follow up compared surgical treatment of advanced type 2 diabetes to treatment with medications, diet, and lifestyle interventions. The results show surgery is the clear winner, with patients randomized to the surgical arm experiencing fewer complications of diabetes, better kidney function, lowered cardiovascular risk, and better…
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There is no question that a very sophisticated effort has been purposely undertaken by the food industry to provide all of us simple consumers with foods that are increasingly irresistible. And bad for our health. Delivering those amazingly pleasurable mixtures of salt, sugar, fat, flavors, and scents lead us to consume an immense quantity of processed snacks that we would simply never have done with,…
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The most recent guidance from the American Urogynecologic Society has called out the dangers of anti-cholinergic medications used to treat bladder incontinence. Describing the class of medications which includes the most widely prescribed names such as Ditropan, Oxybutynin, Detrol, and Vesicare, the guideline paper describes that “Recently, additional concerns have emerged regarding prolonged use of anticholinergic medications and the associated risk of cognitive impairment, dementia,…
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As we know, obesity increases the risks of many serious adverse health conditions, including many types of cancer. A 2020 study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association Dermatology evaluated more than 4,000 individuals over a 20-year time frame and found that skin cancer, including malignant melanoma, occurred far less often among those individuals treated with metabolic surgery. As the authors write, “These…
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Major weight loss is a great thing. Studies from around the world continue to emphasize that excess body weight is bad for our health and bad for our quality of life, so losing weight is the top priority. Most people feel better, live longer, and enjoy life more after major weight loss. But that does not mean there are not some side effects. If you're…
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