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• 12 / 06 / 2008

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Cuban specialists are applying a new surgical technique based on barium to treat diseases associated to obesity, which affects millions of people around the world.

Surgeon Antonio Portilles, who works at the Havana-based Calixto Garcia Hospital, told ACN that a multidisciplinary team from that medical- training institution has been applying the treatment for the past five years, with successful results in 42 Cuban patients.

The barium-based surgical treatment is performed by way of gastric application, which reduces the stomach to one third of its capacity, and ends with a derivation to the small intestine depending on the diseases suffered by the patient and type of obesity, doctor Portilles said.

The Cuban expert added that the technique mainly favors obese people with diabetes, high blood pressure, infertility, and cardiovascular traumas.

He highlighted that the team, made up of psychologists, psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, surgeons, general practitioners, cardiologists and endocrinologists, carried out a research work on the most common procedures used internationally, and analyzed the possibility of implementing them in the country.

During the Cuban Congress on Surgery, which wound up on Friday at Havana Convention Center, the physician affirmed that the practice will be spread to other provinces.

(AIN)