Adolescent Bariatric Surgery

Columbia’s Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital offers a multidisciplinary surgical weight management program. It includes:

• Health and metabolic screening
• Individualized exercise programs
• Laparoscopic weight loss surgery
• Nutritional guidance, dietary management, and education
• Ongoing follow-up for patients

Obesity is a major public-health concern in the United States and throughout the world. Left unchecked, it can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, kidney disease, liver complications, and a host of other medical problems. In the past 20 years, obesity rates in young people have been on the rise, and weight-related complications are unfortunately all too common in children and adolescents.

Our surgical team has extensive experience in laparoscopic bariatric surgery and provides long-term care for patients in a supportive, caring environment. Columbia’s Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery also participates in a multicenter clinical trial to study laparoscopic adjustable gastric bands in adolescents.

• In addition, our center’s researchers investigate:
• Changes in metabolic parameters (leptin, ghrelin) with weight reduction.
• Changes in quality of life associated with weight loss.
• Social factors related to successful weight reduction after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.
• The natural history of obesity-associated conditions (type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension) while patients are losing weight and when they have lost substantial weight.