Is DS covered in Alberta

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if someone could help me out here. I'm trying to determine whether Alberta covers not just the RNY but also the DS surgery as a first WLS? I'm interested in putting together a case for it's coverage in Ontario and am looking for info from other provinces. You can post info here or private msg me.

Thank you!

Hi there,

When I was doing my research for surgeries about 3 years ago, I was adamantly told by several doctors that Alberta doesn't promote or cover the DS surgery due to it's complications and deprivation post surgery. It also doesn't correct behaviour but actually promotes large amounts of fats to be consumed.

In the mid 80's there were surgeons in Canada doing the DS surgery but the mortality rate was somewhere in the 40% range and the major complication rate was in the 70% range.

The government pulled the plug on it and refused to support it.

There are 3 WLS covered by Alberta Health Care. The RNY, The Sleeve, and The Band. Each surgeon's clinic will have slightly different criteria for each of the surgeries.

Melody

Thankfully the severe complication and death rate has been reduced to about 3%, and a minority of people have any defeciencies after the DS now due to proper supplementation - I actually want  the DS because it has a much lower rate of weight regain and complications like dumping and reactive hypoglycemia than the RNY. I can handle the high protein, high fat and low carb diet as I eat that way now anyway, so I'm not concerned about your percieved lack of behaviour modification - I see it as a better quality of life post-op compared to the other WLS. Really what I want is the ability to take NSAIDs due to knee and foot injuries and migraines. I wonder why Alberta would cover the VSG which has such little long term info and not very good results in the medium term related to weight regain, but will not cover the DS, which has the best long term weight loss results? It doesn't really make sense to me...

With the sleeve you are able to take nsaid's and the sleeve may be newer to Canada but it has been around since the 1970's, it is the first phase using in the DS, doctors in Europe would first give an super obese patient the sleeve and then later switch the bowels when the patient had loss an x amount of weight making the surgery safer with better weight loss results.
Have you searched through your area for a doctor or have you considered going out of country for this procedure. I suggest you post on the other forums to see if you can find the info you need. Good Luck and I wish you all the best.

Kee.

I'm very familiar with the VSG and I don't believe a restriction only surgery will be sufficient for me to lose and keep off the weight - the medium term results on VSG seems to demonstrate a lot of regain. I have metabolic issues, so I definitely need some malabsorption. I've already researched all the surgery options thoroughly and am now preparing my case to demonstrate to the surgeon why I should have DS and not RNY (which is the typical surgery covered by OHIP in Ontario).
Ontario has one surgeon who performs the DS, but he only does so when other WLS have resulted in inadequate loss or if complications arise (Ontario also sends some to Montreal to see Dr. Gagner who is the world leader in lap DS). I'm trying to put together a case for why I should be able to have it as my first WLS and not wait for failure or complications. I'm just looking for info from other provinces on coverage for the DS because I can make a stronger argument if I can point to other provinces covering it. So far, it looks like only Quebec covers it as a first time WLS, but I'm still looking for other info. If OHIP refuses to pay I will probably just pay to see Dr. Gagner in Montreal, but I don't believe I should have to pay if I am deemed an appropriate WLS candidate, so I will fight.