Rishi Khatau is believed to be the youngest person in the world to undergo gastric surgery

May 12, 2014 13:51 GMT  ·  By
Rishi Khatau is believed to be the youngest person in the world to undergo gastric surgery
   Rishi Khatau is believed to be the youngest person in the world to undergo gastric surgery

At just four years old, Rishi Khatau is believed to be the youngest person in the world to undergo gastric surgery. Six months ago, the boy was tipping the scales at 44kg (7st) and doctors decided to perform a gastrectomy after he failed to lose weight on an enforced diet and exercise regime.

The young boy, from Kolkata, India, suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome, which means that his appetite is out of control and his slow metabolism is unable to burn calories properly. And due to his heavy weight, he was also suffering from other dangerous complications, including breathing difficulties and sleep apnoea.

Before the weight loss operation, Rishi was wearing large adult T-shirts and his waist measurement was 92 cm (36 inches). He had got so worryingly big that he couldn't walk to the school bus anymore and his mother Henna had to carry him.

According to Metro, during the operation – which is similar to a gastric band –, medics cut away nearly three-quarters of Rishi's stomach in an attempt to help him reduce his weight.

“I don't think we were to blame by giving him food. He’d beg and beg for more food. He never felt satisfied with his meals, it baffled us,” his mother said.

“We had no other way of saving our son. He was slowly dying and surgery was our last hope,” the boy's father Dipen added.

Luckily, the medical intervention was a success and the boy has already lost two stones on a diet of soup and juice. Now, he also tries to live a healthier life and exercises regularly playing cricket and cycling with his friends.

Rishi's 39-year-old father said the effects of the operation could be noticed almost immediately, and that his son was slowly becoming a normal child.

“It makes me very happy that my son is getting his life back. He still has a craving for sweets, so we make him share his food, that way he’s having what he wants but only half the actual portion,” he said.

Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that causes sufferers to have a constant desire for food, low muscle tone, restricted growth, cognitive disabilities and behavioral problems. Its incidence is between 1 in 25,000 births in general and 1 in 10,000 live births and is the most common genetic cause of morbid obesity in children. Only one in every 15,000 children in England is diagnosed with this rare condition.