Nurse Chen Lihua checks Zhu's weight and height before the surgery.(Photo/Shanghai Daily)
A 26-year-old woman who is the most obese person in the city according to medical records has undergone a successful surgery which should more than halve her 152 kilograms within a year, doctors at Shanghai Pudong Hospital said yesterday.
The woman surnamed Zhu is just 1.48 meters but her Body Mass Index, an indicator of weight and height of a person, is 69.4, the highest in the city after professional sorting. The healthy norm is between 18.5 and 24 for Chinese people.
Because of her weight, she has suffered many complications such as diabetes and sleep apnea syndrome. She had to wear a respiration machine during night.
Her family took her to the hospital for help recently after she was sent for emergency rescue after a breath obstruction during sleep. The operation — a Stomach Intestinal Pylorus-Sparing Surgery — was carried out on Thursday.
"We found she has a very unhealthy eating disorder and other chromosome tests were also run to look for the cause," said doctor Zhang Peng, the woman's chief surgeon.
"Given her weight, the only option was surgery," he said.
The SIPS — also known as sleeve gastrectomy, involves surgeries to restrict the small intestine and the bowel to reduce intake of calories.
"She has been off the respiration machine, which means the surgery is successful," Zhang said. "And there will be no complications.
"People with a BMI higher than 32.5 without other complications or those with BMI higher than 27.5 with complications must go to doctors for help," Zhang said. "Under such circumstances, it is hard to reduce weight just by changing the diet and exercising. People need professional guidance and even obesity surgery."
