A morbidly obese two-year old boy was the youngest in the world undergo bariatric surgery, according to the Examiner.
The two-year-old from Saudi Arabia weighed 73 pounds with a BMI of 41 and he had started to suffer from sleep apnea, making the surgery a life-saving operation, according to Fox News on Sept 20.
The parents of this child sought help from the doctors who had put the baby on a diet twice, which failed. Because of the child's age, no one could be sure if the parents actually followed the diet or if the child just keeps gaining weight even when on a diet. Because the child couldn't converse, the doctors went by the reports of the parents.
The child was first presented to an endocrinologist at 14-months old. At that time the toddler weighed 47 pounds. After the parents put him on the doctor's diet for four months, the child came back into the doctor's office and he had an 18 pound increase in weight.
The child developed the sleep apnea, which would cause him to stop breathing, making this a life and death situation. Along with the sleep apnea, his legs were bowing under his weight. The surgery is not like a lap-band, as the surgery is not reversible. The case was published in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports recently.
It was a successful surgery, the doctors who performed the procedure said. The boy lost 15 percent of his body weight within two months of the surgery. The surgery was performed in 2010 and in 2012 his weight had fallen from 73 pounds to 53 pounds. His BMI was at 24, which is within the normal range. While some found this case "shocking" and "very unusual," it was successful.
