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Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center

For Physicians

Dear Colleague,

My name is Tom Sonnanstine, M.D., and I am the Medical Director of the Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center at The St. Luke Hospitals. The Center is emerging as one of the preeminent weight-loss programs in the region. Our expert team at the center provides the Greater Cincinnati community with advanced laparoscopic weight-loss surgery options, as well as a multidisciplinary approach to help ensure the most successful weight-loss outcomes.

In the past few years, our patients, the medical community, and the popular media have become increasingly aware of the epidemic of morbid obesity. Nearly one third of U.S. adults are obese. Public awareness that morbid obesity is a significant medical condition is at an all-time high. Morbidly obese patients are likely to develop diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, pulmonary complications, certain obesity-related cancers, degenerative joint disease and hepatobiliary disease. In addition, they have a shortened life expectancy. Quality of life is often poor, and many of these patients do not achieve their full employment potential because of their medical conditions or employer discrimination.

At present, surgery offers the best option for long-term weight reduction and control. In 1991 the National Institutes of Health proclaimed that gastric restrictive surgery is the treatment of choice for selected patients as part of a multidisciplinary treatment plan. It supports surgery for patients with a BMI greater than 40 (weight/height 2 kg/m2) without comorbidity (the presence of coexisting or additional diseases with reference to an initial diagnosis) and for patients with a BMI greater than 35 with significant comorbidity. The low mortality (less than 1.0 percent) and major morbidity (less than 10 percent) supports the use of surgery for most patients.

At the Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center, we have established a multidisciplinary approach to weight loss. All patients will be enrolled in an intensive preoperative program consisting of surgical, medical, psychological and nutritional evaluations. The program will consist of multiple individual and group sessions with our behavioral health experts; licensed dietitians; and a surgeon who has been fellowship-trained in minimally invasive bariatric surgery. After the surgery, all patients will be expected to continue involvement in the program for the rest of their lives. I am a firm believer that our patients will achieve the greatest chance of success if we remain committed to them, just as we expect them to stay committed to this life-changing decision that they have made.

The surgical component of the program focuses on laparoscopic bariatric surgery, including laparoscopic gastric bypass and adjustable gastric banding procedures procedures. This is because the benefits of laparoscopic surgery to this population of patients compared to open surgery are innumerable, including lower rates of hernias, wound infections, pulmonary complications and DVTs; shorter hospitalizations; and earlier returns to work, physical activities and social functions. We provide evaluation and care for revisional bariatric surgery patients as well.

Because laparoscopic bariatric surgery is a very specialized procedure, I would also like to provide some additional background about myself and my training. I was born and raised in Marion, Ohio, and I received my undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. I received my medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. My five-year general surgery residency was performed at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and it was there that I first discovered my interest in caring for morbidly obese patients. This past academic year, I was a fellow at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston for advanced laparoscopy and bariatric surgery. I am currently the only physician in Northern Kentucky with fellowship training in this field. In addition to having performed more than 200 laparoscopic gastric bypasses, 250 L-Bands procedures, 200 realized band procedures and 70 open revisional bariatric operations, I have been a staff attending in the general surgery department. I have a continued interest in other aspects of general surgery, including advanced laparoscopy, commensurate with my fellowship training. I am also board certified by the American Board of Surgery, an associate member of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

The Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center is located at St. Luke Hospital West in Florence, KY. All components of the program are centered within the hospital. If you have patients who are interested in weight-loss surgery, they can register for an information session with me or schedule a consultation by calling 859-212-GOAL.

If you would like more information about bariatric surgery, or if you have questions about the procedures or the program, please feel free to contact me any time, day or night. I can be reached at 859-212-GOAL during the day, and after hours, you can call the hospital operator at 859-212-5200 and have me paged. I also have co-authored an article with more information about bariatric procedures that was published in the October 2004 edition of Support Line, a publication of Dietitians in Nutrition Support. I will be happy to send you a copy of the article if you'd like.

I eagerly look forward to working closely with you and your patients. My team and I are committed to providing the best possible care.

Sincerely,

Tom Sonnanstine, MD
Medical/Surgical Director
Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center
The St. Luke Hospitals

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