Bariatric surgery, coined from the Greek words for "weight" and "treatment," is a marvel of modern medicine, a megafad for the megafat, an amazingly popular and remarkably successful surgical alternative for the truly overweight that mirrors the rise in obesity and the failure of diet, exercise and weight-loss drugs to help. As more and more patients turn to surgery as a last resort to shrink their stomachs and shed their pounds, more and more hospitals and surgery centers will launch bariatric programs. We created this special edition of Outpatient Surgery to help those surgeons and administrators who are planning to tap into the market to do so with some insight and intelligence at their backs.