Bariatric surgery denotes surgical operations on the stomach to drastically reduce its size and capacity in an attempt reduce body weight in patients who are morbidly obese.

Obesity has become an important medical problem in India now. Over weight is a phenomenon which is on the rise . Childhood obesity seen in affluent classes evetually leads on to adult obesity. It is now not uncommomn to see plump and overweight children in every classroom in convent schools. This phenomenon is due to overeating and eating all the wrong foods. Quite often this is due to parental pressure to eat well and these children are generally force fed.

There are many medical conditions which develop in obese individuals like diabetes, hypertension, osteo-arthritis, breathing problems , sleep apnoea, snoring.

There is no medical treatment for obesity. Diet restriction is the main stay and curtailing the volume of food intake definitely reduces weight. But then to maintain a lower weight for longer times is often difficult. Physical exercise on a daily basis benefits obese patients immensely.

Definitive treatment for morbid obesity is surgery. There are many operations for obesity but the commonest ones are the gastric bypass and sleeve resection of stomach. Effectively these operations reduce the capacity of the stomach drastically thereby curtailing the volume of food intake leading on to reasonable weight loss.

So please get your height and weight checked and you'll know whether you are overweight. If you are obese - then do something about it - today.


Dr.Patta Radhakrishna MS MCh
Con surgical gastroenterologist & Lap surgeon
Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

Dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing is another common complaint often seen in gastroenetrological practice. It can be very mild and transient but it can be severe and persistent. Odynophagia is painful swallowing.

Transient dysphagia is often seen in throat disorders like tonsillitis and pharyngitis but these conditions may also have odynophagia, fever, redness of throat , hoarseness at times and fairly easy to diagnose and treat and a ENT consult is necessary.

Commonest cause of dysphagia is reflux esophagitis. This is a condition associated with heartburn where contents of the stomach and acid regurgitates back into the food pipe due to a faulty valve between the food pipe and stomach. This is usually transient and settles down with postural treatment and drugs.

Another group of disorders of the food pipe called the motility disorders can also cause dysphagia, some of them of a severe variety called the achalsia of the cardia. These are diagnosed by the esopgaeal manometry and respond well to medication .Some of them like achalsia may require surgery.

The most dreaded condition causing dyasphagia is cancer of the food pipe, fairly frequent in India especially among smokers and this will require advanced tests, surgery and maybe chemotherapy or radiotherapy .

So dysphagia is yet another important digestive symptom which should not be ignored and will require a specialist consultation and endoscopy if persistent.

Dr.Patta Radhakrishna
Surgical Gastroenterologist

Paasage of a few drops per rectum is a very common symptom. people do not get alarmed seeing blood in the toilet pan as much as they do when they see blood in the wash basin. But the problem is not that simple.

Majority of the times a few drops of blood in the toilet is not a grave thing to worry about. But this symptom shouldnt be ignored either.

The commonest cause of bleeding per rectum is piles(haemorrhoids) or fissure in ano. The difference between these two is quite obvious. If there is pain while passing motion it is quite often a fissure causing the trouble. Piles do not generally pain. A small skin tag which is felt at the anus is generally mistaken for piles . This tag is called the sentinel pile seen in pts with fissure in ano.
Rare causes of bleeding per rectum may be ulcerative colitis, non-specific colitis and rarely cancer of the rectum.
Most of the piles and fissures do not require any active treatment. If the problem is very persistent and troublesome surgery becomes necessary which is a fairly simple one. One should avoid getting theirs anal problems by quacks and self styled medical men.

Cancer of rectum should always be ruled out in every patient with bleeding per rectum and hence this symptom should not be ignored and allopathy is the ideal choice of treament