In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Colston Edgerton, a bariatric surgeon with Novant Health, who discusses the various types of bariatric procedures, the lifestyle changes that accompany them and how they can improve overall health.
Expert, empathetic weight-loss care awaits
Maggie McKay (Host): Meaningful Medicine is a Novant Health podcast, bringing you access to leading doctors who answer questions they wish you would ask. From routine care to rare conditions, our physicians offer tips to navigate medical decisions and build a healthier future. Today, I'm sitting down with Dr. Colston Edgerton, and we're going to be discussing the benefits of weight loss surgery.
Before we get started, I'd love to know how surgery became a passion of yours.
Dr. Colston Edgerton: Thank you, Maggie, for having me. To start out with, I was really drawn to surgery when I had a life changing surgery myself when I was in high school. I recovered well and it had a profound impact on my life and I was able to see the bedside manner that my surgeon had and his commitment to my care. And it was a very motivating experience for me.
Host: So that is basically what made you focus on bariatric surgery?
Dr. Colston Edgerton: Well, it wasn't really until I was a surgery resident and I got exposed to the field of bariatric or metabolic surgery, and really was able to see the impact that it had on people's lives in many different ways. So it wasn't just the weight loss, but it was how people had their medical conditions treated.
You know, their diabetes got better, their acid reflux got better. And that really, was a profound way to impact someone's life. And I became very interested in it at that time.
Host: So what are the different types of bariatric surgeries available, and how do you decide which one will work best for your patient?
Dr. Colston Edgerton: Sure. There's essentially three surgeries that we do now. The first is the sleeve gastrectomy, which has become the most common bariatric surgery performed in the United States. There's the gastric bypass, and then a fairly newer procedure, the duodenal switch, or the SADI. Each of these procedures has its pros and cons and certain indications.
When we meet with a patient for the first time, we go over their specific history and which of the three surgeries that we think that they would benefit from the most. Sometimes it's because of certain medical conditions that they have. Sometimes it's because of how much weight loss we want to target. And ultimately, we recommend which of those surgeries would be best for each specific patient.
Host: You touched on this a little bit, but will this change their overall life and improve other health conditions they may be facing?
Dr. Colston Edgerton: Absolutely. And that, for a lot of patients, is the most exciting part of the surgery. So I think some people are drawn to the idea of bariatric surgery because they think of it as weight loss surgery. But many of our patients are actually referred by their medical doctors to address things like diabetes and hypertension.
We now have good long-term data and studies that have shown that compared to the best medical therapy available, that bariatric surgery is more capable of treating and curing things like diabetes, high blood pressure, things that can make up what's termed metabolic syndrome. We have even more data to suggest that other cardiovascular risk factors, like the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, is also decreased after having this surgery.
And then another exciting thing that we've seen is that certain hormone sensitive cancers actually have a lower incidence in patients after they have had bariatric surgery compared to similar or matched patients who have not had surgery. So for those reasons, we often tell patients that we think that this is one of the best things that they can do for their overall health and that the weight loss is kind of an exciting thing that goes along with all those health benefits.
