Weight-Loss Surgery May Change the Shape of the Heart

A recent study has shown that gastric surgery does not only help people loose weight but also changes the shape of their heart. In the study 400 morbidly obese people underwent bypass surgery while 300 morbidly obese did not. Those who had surgery had smaller waists, reduced blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, and less insulin resistance, which is a sign of prediabetes, and they found that the “shape and function of the patients’ heart measurable improved.”

The hearts of those patients who underwent bypass surgery changed in structure and decreased in heart muscle mass in the left ventricular and right ventricular cavities. This may be due to the fact that the heart is less stressed and no longer needs to work as hard to pump blood across the body.

I found this article interesting because I did not realize that bypass surgery was able to address so many problems in an obese patient’s body, including changing the structure of the heart. By doing bypass surgery the study showed that a patient’s risk of death decreased by half during a 7-8 year period.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/08/gastric-bypass-surgery-may-change-your-hearts-shape/