Weight Loss Patient Conquers Heart Disease and Beats Cancer!
CASE STUDY:
John Broman’s decision to undergo weight loss surgery not only helped him lose a significant amount of weight, but it also prevented a cardiac disaster waiting to happen and most importantly cured his liver cancer.
John.Broman, age 65, weighed 395 pounds, had a BMI of 50 and was an acceptable candidate for weight loss surgery. John suffered from significant medical problems secondary to his obesity. This included insulin dependent diabetes and an insulin pump to give him a constant dose to control blood sugar.
He also suffered from hypertension, atrial fibrillation, sleep apnea, arthritis, high cholesterol and hepatitis from an unknown cause.
He was on multiple medications including warfarin for his atrial fibrillation.
As part of his work up for surgery, John underwent a cardiac evaluation, which revealed he had coronary artery disease. This would not have been found if he had not decided to undergo weight loss surgery. He underwent a cardiac catheterization and stenting to unblock his coronaries, and once he was cleared from a cardiac standpoint, he scheduled a Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.
During surgery, another problem arose -- the doctor found a liver lesion. It was removed, and since the intraoperative frozen sections were non-conclusive, he underwent the gastric bypass successfully. He was discharged home on hospital day three.
Unfortunately, the liver lesion on final pathology was diagnosed as liver cancer. Since the original resected specimen had positive margins, John was advised a repeat liver resection. Preoperative work up to see if the cancer spread was negative. Four months later and 50 pounds lighter, he underwent a laparoscopic left lateral segmentectomy of the liver. He was discharged on post-operative day three and recovered well from his surgery.
Thirteen months after his gastric bypass, John has lost 142 pounds and has a BMI of 31. He has stopped taking many of his medications since he has no need for them, and his dose of insulin is down to a bare minimum.
Best of all, his heart is healthier and he’s cancer free.
