Dr. Higa completes society presidential term

Dr. Kelvin Higa has completed his year-long term as president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the largest bariatric surgical society in the United States.

Dr. Kelvin Higa said he has seen focus switch from bariatric surgery’s potential complications to its benefits during his tenure as president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

Dr. Higa, director of the minimally invasive and bariatric surgery program at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital, has completed his year-long term as president of the ASMBS, the largest bariatric surgical society in the United States.

However, he said he could not take credit for the society’s success.

“It’s kind of like walking into the cockpit of a 747 in mid-air and taking credit for the flight when, really, it goes to all of the people who have come before you,” said Dr. Higa, who is also a clinical professor of surgery at UCSF Fresno..

Throughout his 15 years as a bariatric surgeon, Dr. Higa has put emphasis on quality patient care. During his year-long term as ASMBS president, he supported efforts such as the Bariatric Outcomes Longitudinal Database (BOLD) which tracks patient and surgeon actions after surgery. 

“We need databases such as BOLD to gather the data and answer some of the unknown questions in bariatric surgery,” Dr. Higa said. “We need to establish the benchmarks by which we should be held accountable.”

Dr. Kelvin Higa

Because of his desire to provide patients with the best possible care, Dr. Higa is a proponent of minimally invasive surgery, which employs smaller-than-usual or no incisions. In some cases, the surgeon may work through the body’s natural openings. Dr. Higa said Fresno Heart & Surgical is one of the few centers in the United States that is performing natural orifice surgery.

Though the technology involved in natural orifice and some minimally invasive procedures is still largely in the experimental stage, Dr. Higa said it is rapidly advancing.

“I like to think that technology will help to make the practice of medicine more humanistic and personal rather than isolated and sterile. I like Gene Roddenberry’s idea of the future much better than H.G. Wells’s,” he said.

In Dr. Higa’s eyes, the best thing about minimally invasive surgery is the short recovery time. He said that it is not unusual to see a patient walking just hours after a major operation.

“To fix somebody, [surgeons] have to invade them, cut them open, rearrange them, take things out, put things in. It’s terribly invasive and traumatic,” he said. Referring to minimally invasive surgery, he said, “Now, we have the technology and the techniques to do all those things but to not cause as much harm.”

Dr. Higa plans to continue working with ASMBS for awareness about and patient access to bariatric surgery when his presidential term is over. “We have to be able to expand [bariatric] services to everyone who deserves them. And in this country, and in many other countries, it’s the poorest people that have the worst access. And that needs to be solved.”

“Being president of American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery has been one of the most delightful, frustrating, challenging highlights of my career,” he said. “And after I leave, I hope to continue. As long as I have some use and purpose in the organization, I plan to continue the fight.”

This story was reported by Heather Billings. She can be reached at MedWatchToday@communitymedical.org.

Thursday, July 10, 2008