Mt Lawley Doctor to lead new bariatric surgery procedure

24 Mar 2020

Internationally recognised and designated Surgeon of Excellence, Dr Ravi Rao is putting Perth on the map as the lead mentor for Australia and Asia Pacific region for the surgery called Single-Anastomosis Duodeno-Ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S) also known as SIPS.

After successfully employing the surgical technique since 2017, Dr Rao attracted world-wide attention after a study trip to Spain resulted in him meeting leaders in the field, presenting at conferences and being invited to be a keynote speaker at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

His paper Early Outcomes of Primary SADI-S: an Australian Experience was published in January 2020 outlining analysis of 91 patients, the first and the largest series reported from Australia.

The initiative will see him train and mentor around three to four surgeons per course from all over the Asia Pacific region from his rooms and the operating theatres at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital.

A bariatric surgeon since 2008, Dr Rao has been working from the hospital since 2013.

"I am incredibly honoured to be selected as the only Australian Surgeon to be a trainer for SADI-S/SIPS surgery," Dr Rao said.

"The program will commence on 19 March at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital which is likely to host an additional one to two courses this year."

"SIPS is a relatively new surgical procedure and has been recently endorsed as an approved surgery in the USA, joining just one other bariatric surgical procedure."

"My work has proven that it is a safe bariatric surgical procedure with favourable outcomes in the Australian population."

"Besides weight loss it has shown a reduction in obstructive sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and gastroesophageal reflux disease."

St John of God Mt Lawley Chief Executive Officer Mr Paul Dyer said the hospital was thrilled to be leading the way in bariatric surgery with Dr Rao at the helm.

"We are very proud of the work Dr Rao has done in a short space of time and we look forward to supporting him and his bariatric surgical colleagues over the next few months," Mr Dyer said.

"With recent upgrades and improvements to our operating theatres we are well placed to support our existing and new surgical procedures as well as important training programs such as SIPS well into the future."

"At St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital we have a proud history of performing bariatric procedures, and we look forward to sharing this expertise with the medical community."

Dr Rao’s SIPS mentoring program will commence on 19 March at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital.