Twenty years ago, bariatric surgery was considered an experimental weight loss surgery for seriously overweight people. But not today. Bariatrics, the medical subspecialty for treating obesity, and bariatric surgery in particular, is recognized by the American College of Surgeons and endorsed by numerous prominent medical institutions. It has a well established record of success and is not an experimental weight loss treatment.

Endorsed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
In 1991, the NIH (NIH Consensus Statement) endorsed two surgical procedures for use in treating patients with clinically severe obesity: The Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Vertical Banded Gastroplasty. Research has shown that the Roux-en-Y is generally more effective in enabling patients to lose significant amounts of their excess weight and keep it off, and it is the procedure Bariatric Treatment Centers recommends and performs for our patients.


Bariatric surgery supported and used by other leading medical institutions
A growing number of leading medical institutions recognize bariatric surgery as the most effective solution for people with clinically severe obesity. Among those that endorse or use the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are:

American College of Surgeons
National Institutes of Health
American Society of Clinical Nutrition
Harvard Medical School
Mayo Clinic
Ohio State University
Louisiana State University
State University of New York
University of Florida
University of Tennessee
and many others


How Bariatric Treatment Centers' procedures compare to stomach stapling and other procedures
Many people have heard of "stomach stapling," "gastric balloon" or "vertical banded gastroplasty," as well as some of the other early bariatric procedures like intestinal bypass. These procedures were introduced in the 1960s and were early attempts to develop surgical procedures to treat obesity. Today, very few surgeons perform these older procedures. Most surgeons perform one of the two procedures endorsed by the NIH. In addition, there are a number of experimental procedures that are currently being performed, including biliary pancreatic diversion, silastic ring gastroplasty, gastric banding, and micropouch versions of the Roux-en-Y. BTC does not perform these procedures. Our role is to strive to provide the best clinical delivery of proven procedures.