Diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, arthritis and cancer… the list of obesity-related diseases is getting longer by the day. Doctors say a large number of ailments can be cured by special laparoscopic obesity surgeries.

An obese person is 40 times more prone to diabetes than a normal person. “In most cases, obesity-related diabetes can be cured with laparoscopy. It also helps control hypertension,” said laparoscopic surgeon B. Ramana, who will be heading the bariatric surgery unit launched at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital on Monday.

“Those suffering from obesity usually have two to six related ailments, like diabetes, hypertension and arthritis,” Ramana said.

The curative surgeries are laparoscopic gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.

In laparoscopic gastric bypass, the stomach is stapled to create a small pouch, into which only 20 ml of food can reach. Normally, the capacity of stomach varies from one to 1.5 litre.

The pouch is attached to the small intestine. The food that comes into the pouch bypasses the stomach and upper intestine and gets only partly digested, leading to reduced absorption of fat.

Patients, however, need to consume vitamin and mineral supplements.

Sleeve gastrectomy is the latest technology in bariatric surgery and is usually performed on high-risk and severely obese patients, especially those who are young.

“It has no complications and is highly effective,” Ramana said. In this process, two-thirds of the stomach are removed along the length, thus reducing the capacity to 150 ml.

Obesity-related cancer cases have also gone up sharply in the city. Breast, ovarian and uterine cancer among women and colon and prostrate cancer among men have recorded a sharp rise.

“A person overweight by 35 kg is in the cancer high-risk group,” said V.K. Bhartia, bariatric surgeon. Doctors advise stretching exercises, followed by a half-hour brisk walk, swimming and balanced diet to keep the chances of obesity-induced cancer down.