Dr del Pino has privileges to perform LAP-BAND® and Lap Gastric Bypass at Rio Grande Regional Hospital (RGRH) which is a Center of Excellence (COE) for the treatment of the morbidly obese. Medicare only covers LAP-BAND ® and Lap Gastric Bypass at COE, therefore Medicare patients can only be operated at RGRH.

Pre-op work-up.

All patients without exceptions must complete extensive mandatory work-up to minimize the chance of complications and maximize safety and excellent outcomes of weight loss surgery. The work-up is the same for all weight loss surgery procedures.

• Psychology or psychiatry evaluation: mandated by insurance companies to make sure you understand what surgery is all about.
• Nutrition evaluation: to assess your nutritional knowledge and status.
• Physical therapy evaluation: to assess your mobility and plan for post-operative work-up.
• EGD and biopsy: Dr del Pino evaluates the anatomy of your stomach and rule out diseases of the stomach.
• Pulmonary clearance: requires pulmonary function tests and chest x-ray. May require additional sleep studies if the specialist suspects that you suffer from sleep apnea.
• Cardiac clearance: requires EKG and lipid panel. May require additional testing including 2D-Echo and/or stress test to assess the fitness of your cardiovascular system.
• Pre-operative anesthesia evaluation. The specialist who will put you to sleep during surgery meets with you before surgery and reviews all the pre-operative work-up information to determine the best and safest anesthesia for you.
• Pre-op lab work.