Bariatric Surgery as a Treatment Option for the Resolution of the Metabolic Syndrome Among Adolescents
Nestor de la Cruz-Muñoz, Sarah E. Messiah
- Metabolic syndrome clusters serious conditions common in teens with severe obesity; this chapter showed bariatric surgery resolves these conditions, not just weight.
- Written in 2011, this was one of the earliest reviews making the case for surgery in teens, over a decade before AAP's 2023 recommendation.
- Covers surgical options, patient selection, and multidisciplinary care for families and providers.
- Subsequent studies confirmed lasting improvements in diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
- Dr. de la Cruz-Muñoz was invited due to his clinical expertise treating teens with severe obesity in South Florida.
This book chapter examines bariatric surgery as a treatment for resolving metabolic syndrome among adolescents with severe obesity, reviewing indications, surgical techniques, weight loss outcomes, cardiometabolic risk factor resolution, patient selection, multidisciplinary evaluation, and perioperative safety data. Written when adolescent bariatric surgery was gaining broader acceptance, it helped establish the evidence-based rationale for surgical intervention in this population.
de la Cruz-Muñoz N, Messiah SE. Chapter 16 — Bariatric Surgery as a Treatment Option for the Resolution of the Metabolic Syndrome Among Adolescents. In: Lipshultz SE, Miller TL, Messiah SE, eds. Pediatric Metabolic Syndrome. London: Springer UK; 2011.
