On-site PhD conferral Dirk Petrus Adrianus Versteegden

"E-health and trends in bariatric surgery"

Keywords: bariatric surgery, obesitas, E-health

Overweight and obesity are becoming one of the biggest medical problems of the 21st century. The most effective treatment for obesity is bariatric surgery. This is the collective term for surgeries on the digestive system of patients to restrict intake or intake of food. Providing electronic tools, called eHealth, can help to better support patients around surgery. Examples include a digital patient platform, scales or pedometers. This thesis investigated the added value of eHealth to standard bariatric care. eHealth had no effect on weight loss after surgery but had a wide reach. Several lessons could be drawn from the studies for the developments of future eHealth modalities. In addition, a number of trends within bariatric surgery were discussed such as developments in existing and new techniques and the shift towards operating on older patients. 

Language: Dutch