Morbidly obese 2-year-old world's youngest to have bariatric surgery

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Morbidly obese 2-year-old world's youngest to have bariatric surgery

Published September 19, 2013

news.com.au

A morbidly obese two-year-old has become the youngest person in the world to undergo bariatric surgery.

The parents of the toddler from Saudi Arabia who weighed (73 pounds) and had a Body Mass Index of 41 sought help because he suffered sleep apnea that caused him to stop breathing while asleep.

Two attempts to control his weight by dieting failed said the medics who carried out the bariatric surgery Mohammed Al Mohaidlya, Ahmed Sulimana and Horia Malawib in an article in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.

The child had a Body Mass Index of 41 had continued to gain weight despite efforts to control his diet.

 

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 Morbidly obese boy aged TWO becomes youngest in world to have weight loss surgery 21 Sep 2013 00:15

His family begged for help after his weight soared to five stone and he began suffering sleep apnoea causing him to stop breathing while asleep

 

 

Large scale: After and before pics

A boy of two has become the youngest person in the world to have weight loss surgery.

The family of the obese toddler begged for help after his weight soared to five stone and he began suffering sleep apnoea which caused him to stop breathing while asleep.

Doctors who carried out a ­laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy to shrink his stomach to the size of a banana said two bids to slim him down through diet had failed.

The “gastric sleeve” LSG op is only performed when a gastric band or a gastric bypass would be unsafe.

Obesity expert Professor Paul Zimmett, of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, branded the case “shocking” and “very unusual”.

He added: “It is going into unknown territory. We have no idea what effect this may have on the child’s growth.

“Unless he has proper follow up he may suffer vitamin deficiencies.”

The boy weighed 3st 3lb when he was first seen by a hormone specialist.

But four months after his family were ordered to put him on a strict diet his weight had increased by 1st 2lb.

Medics could not verify whether his parents had enforced the diet.

By the time he was referred to an obesity clinic he was officially “morbidly obese” and had begun to suffer sleep apnoea and problems with his legs.

 

 

When he first presented to an endocrinologist at 14 months, the toddler weighed (47 pounds) but after dieting for four months his weight increased by (18 pounds).

The doctors from Prince Sultan Military Medical City at Riyadh were unable to ascertain whether the child's parents stuck to the diet.

By the time the boy was referred to the obesity clinic he weighed (65 pounds) and his obesity had led to sleep apnea and bowing of the legs.

A further attempt at dieting failed and when he reached (73 pounds) doctors decided to perform surgery.

Surgeons carried out a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy on the boy which involved removing the outer margin of the stomach to restrict food intake, leaving a sleeve of stomach, roughly the size and shape of a banana.

Unlike a lap band, the surgery is not reversible.

"To our knowledge LSG has never been tried in very young age children," the surgeons say in their report. "We present here probably the first case report of the successful management of a two year old morbidly obese boy."

Within two months the boy lost 15 per cent of his body weight and two years after the 2010 surgery his weight had fallen from (73 pounds) to (53 pounds) and his BMI of 24 was within the normal range.

Obesity expert adjunct professor Paul Zimmett from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute said the case was "shocking" and "very unusual".

"It's rather like the other day when we saw one of our spacecrafts going out of our solar system into the dark regions of space, it's going into unknown territory," he said of the case. "We have no idea what effect this may have on the child's growth and unless he has proper follow up he may suffer vitamin deficiencies."