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Nation's Doctors Observe Specialized Technique Performed by Houston Bariatric Team

Surgeons at Memorial Hermann in the Spotlight at National Medical Conference

Houston, Texas, August 6, 2004 - With more than 6 million Americans categorized as morbidly obese, hospitals typically perform 240,000 gastric bypass and gastric banding surgeries each year. A bariatric surgical team with Houston’s Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, which has performed more than 1,100 of these delicate procedures, demonstrated the technique it has developed for an audience of nearly 200 surgeons at this summer’s annual meeting of the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons.

The operation, which was performed at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital in Houston, was broadcast via videoconference to surgeons attending the meeting in San Diego, Calif. Adam Naaman M.D., F.A.C.S., demonstrated the instruments and methods he uses to cut and staple the stomach, creating a smaller pouch and limiting the amount of food a post-operative patient needs to eat in order to feel full.

Dr. Naaman completed the delicate procedure in 45 minutes. The remarkably brief surgical completion time is a standard for the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital team and is the result of the physicians’ ongoing scientific approach to refinement of the technique.

Individuals diagnosed as morbidly obese are at least 100 pounds overweight and/or have a body mass index of 40 or higher. Health risks associated with morbid obesity include high blood pressure, adult onset (type II) diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and sleep apnea.

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