Bariatric surgery for obese adolescents: Should surgery be used to treat the childhood obesity epidemic?

In this paper, the authors consider morbidly obese adolescents suffering from obesity-related complications as potential candidates for bariatric surgery if they have failed greater than 6 months of organized attempts at weight management with the assistance of a multidisciplinary team, and have attained physiologic and psychological maturity.

They recommend adolescents who are possible candidates for bariatric surgery be referred to a centre with a multidisciplinary team capable of managing the unique challenges of adolescents undergoing this surgery, They also recommend that the surgeon who will perform this surgery should be a subspecialist trained in bariatric medical and surgical care.

The authors conclude adolescents who are undergoing bariatric surgery need to be aware that behavior modifications, medications and supplements need be maintained long term after surgery in order to continue their success of reaching a goal weight.

There is good evidence suggesting that adolescents can have successful weight loss following bariatric surgery, but questions remain about the long-term effects of these operations in adolescents and the degree to which weight loss after bariatric surgery in adolescence can be sustained over a lifetime.

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