Development of bariatric/metabolic surgery in Vojvodina

Abstract

The paper presents the chronological development of bariatric/metabolic surgery in Vojvodina, the region with the largest incidence of obesity in Serbia, and in which 13.2% of the population suffers from diabetes with a mortality of 15.7/100,000, which is one of the highest rates in Europe. Bariatric surgery began in the 1950s in the United States, with the consecutive development of various restrictive, malabsorptive, and combined procedures, which are intensified by the adoption of laparoscopic techniques. After initial, European knowledge and preparation of obese patients for surgery at the end of the 1970s, the first laparoscopic bariatric/metabolic interventions started in Vojvodina at the Clinical Center in Novi Sad in 2006. Next year, the multidisciplinary team for bariatric surgery was prepared in Slovenia and Austria, and the first interventions were performed in 2008 at the Clinic for Thoracic Surgery of the Institute in Sremska Kamenica, in the first-place laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Since then, bariatric/metabolic surgery at this Institute have continuously been performed. By establishing international cooperation, three courses were held with demonstration operations in bariatric/metabolic surgery and the participation of eminent surgeons and other experts from the country and abroad. Several bariatric surgeries were performed on children (at the Children?s Surgery Clinic in Novi Sad), as well as in Sremska Mitrovica. Their own experience in this field has been published in the international literature and through several regional meetings dedicated to metabolic surgery.