Are Certain People Better Candidates For Bariatric Procedures, And If So, Who?

February 1, 2009 -- Question: Are certain people better candidates for bariatric procedures, and if so, who?

Answer: I think that people who are typical candidates for bariatric surgery are those who have more severe obesity or more medically significant obesity. We use a body mass index of over 40 as a criterion for surgery, but for people who have complications of their obesity -- diabetes, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, heart disease and the like--we use a cutoff of a BMI of 35. That means someone who is moderately obese would be appropriate if they have those other diseases.

Which surgery you do, of course, depends in part on how severely affected you are, and some procedures are safer than others for different subgroups of patients.