Penn Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery Team

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Video Transcript

Kenric M. Murayama, MD, FACS: We see patients here who are carrying excess weight; patients generally who are more really obese but also patients who carry too much weight, not quite morbidly obese who have health problems due to the excess weight such as high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, joint problems. Many of the patients have underlying cardiac history issues as well as lung problems. We have them come to the information session first and really that's giving them a lot of information about what they should expect once they enter the program. If they're interested in proceeding, we have them meet with our dietician, with the physicians involved in the program, with our nurse practitioner. We've incorporated the multidisciplinary approach to patient care including the psychology program, the sleep program. We individualize the operations and we individualize the care to the patients need – specific needs. And so I think because of that, with all of the specialty services and the experience and the wealth of experience here, I think patients get the best bariatric care possible. Very often patients look at success as the amount of weight they've lost and part of the pre-operative evaluation process is to help them refocus on being healthier. So success really is being healthier and having improvement in the quality of life and it has less to do with really losing the weight. With bariatric surgery, you actually give people a part, if not all of their life back; their grandkids enjoy them, their kids enjoy them and they can get out and do the things that they have always wanted to do but have been impaired or have been impeded from doing because of their weight. I'm Kendric Murayama, chief of surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Penn Medicine.