14 DAY TRIAL // A paper recently published in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports details the case of a morbidly obese 2-year-old from Saudi Arabia who underwent bariatric surgery in order to shake off the excess weight.
The doctors who performed the surgery explain that, when they first met the toddler back in 2010, the latter weighed 73 pounds (33.1 kilograms), and had a BMI (body mass index) of 41.
By the looks of it, doctors first tried helping the child lose weight the old-fashioned way, i.e. by dieting.
However, their efforts proved futile. They are unsure whether this happened because the boy's parents kept feeding him all the wrong stuff, or if maybe his age had a say in the matter.
The decision to perform bariatric surgery was taken after the 2-year-old developed sleep apnea because of all the excess weight. This condition was a life-threatening one, seeing how the boy risked losing his ability to breathe at any time. Besides, his legs were unable to support his weight, and had therefore started to deform.
Both these conditions were successfully treated with the help of the bariatric surgery, The Examiner reports.
“We report here a case of a 2 and half years old child subjected to LSG [laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy] for his morbid obesity and associated obstructive sleep apnea and bowing of legs,” the doctors write in their care report.
Furthermore, “LSG was performed after investigations ruled out hereditary or genetic causes of obesity. The procedure was well tolerated without any complications and 2 months post surgery, the obstructive sleep apnea decreased substantially.”
Two years after the surgery, the boy's BMI was one of 24, which was well within the normal limit for a child his age. What's more, he weighed 53 pounds (24 kilograms).
By the looks of it, this child is the youngest person in the world to have thus far been subjected to this medical procedure.
“Prior to our report the youngest child to undergo sleeve gastrectomy was a 5 years old from Saudi Arabia. The results suggest that LSG can be a safe and effective alternative for weight control in morbidly obese children even of less than 3 years of age,” specialists say.
“However more studies and long term follow up is essential for monitoring the growth and development of children subjected to LSG,” they nonetheless wish to stress.