Woman loses 9st stomach in a day

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2095079,00.html

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona

 

Doctors in Spain have performed the biggest tummy tuck operation in

history

 

 

A WOMAN has undergone what is believed to be the biggest tummy tuck

operation ever at a hospital in Spain, where surgeons removed over 9st of fat

from her stomach in a nine-hour operation.

The 55-year-old was morbidly obese and carried excess weight of

132lb (60kg) - equivalent to a woman about to give birth to triplets. Surgeons

had to use a team of small cranes to remove her stomach during the complex

operation. Yesterday she was said to be recovering well in hospital after the

operation last week.

 

 

 

Before surgery the woman, whose weight was not revealed, had to

sleep with her stomach balanced on a table next to her bed. The " apron " of fat

had covered her legs, said surgeons.The patient did not want to be identified,

but was keen for details of the operation to be made public to encourage other

morbidly obese people to seek treatment.

 

Plastic surgeons at the public Hospital de Cruces in Barakaldo in

the Basque Country, said the operation was the first of its kind to remove such

a large amount of fat. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons

said that operations to remove up to 55lb of fat for vanity reasons had been

practised in Britain but were rare. Operations to remove stomach fat from

morbidly obese people are not carried out for vanity reasons and can run the

risk of blood clotting and infection.

 

Francisco Javier Gabilondo, who led the Spanish team, said the

operation was " more spectacular than difficult " . He said the woman had an

" abdominal curtain " of fat which hung over her waist on to her legs. The fat had

stopped her from working properly for five years. " This skirt of fat was not a

tumour, but had formed with fat, liquid and dilated skin within the patient's

abdominal area. "

 

Dr Gabilondo said that the biggest risk to the patient had been

through potential breathing problems during the long operation. But once the fat

and liquid had been removed, surgeons had succesfully replaced abdominal tubes

to the abdominal cavity.

 

The woman is now learning how to live again without carrying the

considerable weight of her stomach, and hospital staff are teaching her how to

walk again.

 

Surgeons believe the operation will hugely improve the condition of

the woman's back, knees and feet, helped by a good diet and exercise.

 

Dr Gabilondo said: " People in the West in the 21st century end up

morbidly obese because of a fear within. It is a complex psychiatric situation. "

 

132lb of fat...

 

a.. is 60kg, or around nine and a half stone

a.. is slightly more than the weight of an average 17-year-old girl

a.. has an energy content of 462,000 calories

a.. if equated to lard would be enough to cook 7,000 sausages