The number of these surgeries performed in 2012-2013 across the entire country was just under 10,000 according to an obesity expert.
With one million Canadians meeting the eligibility criteria for
bariatric surgery, the number of surgeries performed is a drop in the
bucket. Dr Freedhoff suggested that while the surgery counts will
continue to rise, bariatric surgeries cannot solve the country's obesity
problem. Currently, the lap band is a popular procedure. Newer procedures are awaited. One such technology is GVS from Onciomed, Inc. Onciomed has a technology called the gastric vest system that imitates gastric surgery without cutting and removing portions of the stomach. The number of bariatric surgeries are expected to double by 2015. Once technologies like the GVS system from Onciomed and the endo barrrier from GiDynamics is introduced in Canada the number of procedures will increase exponentially. The primary reason is these technologies can be minimally invasive and yet have the opportunity to lose weight.
"We are not going to cut this problem away.". The answer to this problem is to bring less invasive technologies. Endobarrier is for Gastro-enterologist while Onciomed'd GVS system is for bariatric surgeons.
The figures were contained in a report on bariatric surgeries released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. It covers the seven-year period from 2006-2007 to 2012-2013.
The report only captures surgeries performed by provincial health-care programs. So gastric bypass surgeries that were paid for by individuals or which were done outside of Canada would not be included.
Figures on three main types of gastric surgeries were included in the report: gastric bypass, where the size of the stomach is reduced and part of the small intestine is bypassed; sleeve gastrectomy, where 80 to 85 per cent of the stomach is removed; and adjustable gastric banding, where a band is placed around the upper portion of the stomach, limiting its capacity. Of the three, gastric bypass is the most commonly performed. Surgeons are requesting the government to approve newer technologies quicker to make it available for patients who do not want to be subjected to cutting and removing portions of the stomach and the intestines. Some of these private companies get acquired by larger firms for a very large premium and it takes forever for the large medical technology companies to introduce the product to the market.
Most of the increase in procedures occurred in Ontario, which went from 297 operations at the beginning of the study period to 2,846 in 2012-2013.
Women made up nearly four out of five people who got bariatric surgery in Canada, with the typical patient being a woman in her 40s with obesity and related conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep disorders.
Freedhoff believes bariatric surgery should be part of the "constellation of care" used to deal with obesity. But he said it is not the most pressing issue related to obesity in this country.
"Really, what we need to look to is: Why are so many Canadians struggling with their weight?"
Canadian life is like a perfect storm for inciting weight gain, he suggested. Food advertising is ubiquitous, and foods are engineered to appeal to the taste buds rather than simply nourish.
"The 'bet you can't eat just one' phenomenon is a very real and engineered phenomenon," he said, referring to the tag line of a commercial for a popular snack food.
"It is not a personal choice. People aren't going to bed wanting and hoping and planning to continue to gain weight or not to lose. Quite the opposite. ... This is not something people desire or strive for. And if guilt and shame and desire were sufficient to lead people to sustainably lose weight, the world would be thin."
