A morbidly obese toddler has become the youngest person in the world to havebariatric weight-loss surgery.
The unnamed toddler from Saudi Arabia weighed 33kg (just over five stone) before his surgery, and had a body mass index of 41. His parents asked for help because the boy's weight was causing him sleep apnoea – which meant he sometimes stopped breathing when he slept. He also suffered with bowing of the legs.
According to the International Journal of Surgery, the boys' parents had twice tried to make him diet, but it had not worked. (Um, what about just feeding him healthy food in the right portions, in the first place?)
The toddler was first since by doctors at 14 months, weighing 21.3kg. A diet plan was advised, but his weight increased by eight kilograms in four months.
When he reached 33kg, doctors agreed to perform surgery. More pictures after the cut...
Surgeons carried out a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy on the boy. This involved removing the outer margin of the stomach to restrict food intake. The stomach that is left is roughly the size and shape of a banana.
The news site News.com.au reports that the surgery is not reversible.
Within two months of the surgery the boy lost 15% of his body weight. Two years after the surgery in 2010 he weighed 24kg and his BMI was within normal range.
Writing in the Journal, the surgeons said: "To our knowledge LSG has never been tried in very young age children. We present here probably the first case report of the successful management of a two year old morbidly obese boy."
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