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SINGAPORE: An obese man has shown he can lose a lot of weight - with surgery. He lost 40 kilogrammes in eight months after doctors reduced the size of his stomach.
Khairul Abdullah weighed about 145kg seven months ago. His Body Mass Index (BMI) was more than 48.
He then went for the Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy at the National University Hospital (NUH). It's a minimally-invasive surgery that re-shapes his stomach into a tube - like the shape of a banana.
The procedure also removes the gastric fundus, which secretes one of the major 'hunger' hormones called Ghrelin.
After the procedure, patients are said to feel satisfied with a small meal.
Mr Khairul said: "To be honest, it's too good to be true. At one stage, when I had to walk, I had to drag, not walk, I dragged myself. The first four days after that surgery, if I'm not wrong, I lost about 10 to 12 kilos within the period. Within the first two months, the drastic change was terrific."
As with any surgery, there are risks like infection and bleeding. Doctors will only perform the surgery on those who are deemed morbidly obese.
Associate Professor Jimmy So, director for NUH's Centre for Obesity Management & Surgery, said: "Only when the patients are really severely obese, especially when they have failed all the other means like the diet control and exercise, then we'll consider surgery. People with high BMI - we call 'morbidly obese' with BMI of more than 37 - these are the people (for whom) we'll consider obesity surgery."
Medical experts said the golden window period for weight loss following the surgery is about up to one-and-half years. So Mr Khairul can expect to lose some more weight.
According to NUH, the number of patients deciding to go for weight loss surgery has gone up by 30 per cent since 2005.
In Singapore, 16 per cent of the adult population are obese while 7 per cent are morbidly obese.
- CNA/ir
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