Report on 2^nd International Conference: Metabolic Surgery

On 30-31 May 2010, the 2nd International Conference on metabolic surgery was held in Kielce. The Scientific Committee chaired by Prof. Edward Stanowski – honorary Chairman of the Polish Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Society Chapter of the Association of Polish Surgeons – supervised the preparation of the scientific programme of the conference. Among international guests there were Prof. Rudolf Weiner from Frankfurt (Germany) – the President of the European Chapter of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO EC); Prof. Almantas Maleckas from Kaunas (Lithuania) – the Supervisor of the Department of Miniinvasive and Bariatric Surgery of the Medical University of Kaunas; and Prof. Tomasz Rogula, our fellow countryman, who has been working for many years in the United States, recently under the supervision of Prof. Philip Schauer in Cleveland Clinic.

Among Polish guests we were honored to welcome Prof. Barbara Zahorska-Markiewicz – the President of the Polish Association for the Study of Obesity – who dealt with new opportunities for obesity treatment and among other issues drew attention to those offered by metabolic surgery in her presentation delivered during the conference inauguration. Moreover, during the opening session Prof. Rudolf Weiner presented the idea of two-stage bariatric surgery minimizing the risk of perioperative complications, a relatively new way of treatment for patients with advanced obesity. Towards the end of the opening session, Assoc. Prof. Mariusz Wyleżoł presented the methodology of Polish guidelines for bariatric surgery, which were drawn up in 2009. The first day of the Conference was closed by the wonderful performance of Ludmiła Worobec-Witek and Artur Jaroń and the festive dinner.

On the second day of the Conference the outstanding specialists Prof. Marianna Janion, Grażyna Witczak PhD and Katarzyna Krekora-Wollny PhD acquainted us thoroughly with the hazards of obesity. In particular, they concentrated on metabolic syndrome, its diabetic consequences and possibilities of its non-invasive treatment. Next, on the basis of the up-to-date research results, Prof. Janusz Strzelczyk, Assoc. Prof. Mariusz Wyleżoł, Assoc. Prof. Krzysztof Paśnik, Maciej Michalik PhD, and Prof. Stanisław Głuszek in their presentations concerning metabolic and bariatric management of obesity talked about indications for surgical treatment, results achieved in both weight loss and most importantly in regression of obesity complications such as diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, etc. They also mentioned possible detrimental consequences of treatment and miniinvasive aspects of the applied methods achieved due to laparoscopy.

The above-mentioned presentations were supplemented by Iwona Boniecka MA with a description of the most important dietary issues connected with obesity treatment. Dorota Kozieł PhD and Iwona Wawrzycka MA presented directives concerning rules of nursing care of bariatric patients. At the end of this session Jarosław Matykiewicz PhD presented in a practical way a case of a patient treated surgically due to morbid obesity. He also talked about its outcome and results achieved.

During the next session our international guests Prof. Weiner, Prof. Maleckas and Prof. Rogula discussed on the basis of video materials the technique of performing bariatric operations and presented the preliminary results of diabetes surgical management of overweight patients and those with grade 1 obesity. During this part of the conference Andrzej Dasz­kiewicz PhD presented the principles of patient pre­paration for bariatric surgery, taking into consideration multi-specialist cooperation coordinated by an anaesthesiologist performing anaesthesia.

The conference ended with the roundtable talks involving all the participants. The talks were moderated by Prof. Edward Stanowski. The discussion was related to the presented subjects as well as management of pathologically obese patients, namely treatment of the disease and its concomitant complications by the use of surgery consistent with scientific research results in the case of appropriate indications.

Finally, on behalf of the Chapter Board and the Conference organizers, we would very much like to thank everybody who contributed to organizing it. We also thank over 200 participants of the conference whose involvement will definitely contribute to further development of medicine in our country. There are certainly many other subjects that specialists dealing with treatment of morbidly obese patients are concerned with. They require further discussion and analysis by both national and international experts. Numerous courses, trainings and conferences organized soon by centers dealing with metabolic and bariatric surgery will undoubtedly present an opportunity to do so. One of them will be the 3rd International Conference held in May 2011 in Bialystok and organized by a team supervised by Prof. Jacek Dadan.