The 18-year-old high-school senior is scheduled for gastric bypass surgery five days before Christmas at Barix Clinics of Pennsylvania in Langhorne. At 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 265 pounds, Petro hopes the operation will succeed where diet and other weight-loss programs failed her.

"It's about my future," said Petro, who has been dreaming of having the surgery since she was 15. "I've had a weight problem for eight years."

While Petro is younger than most, her decision to surgically shrink her appetite is becoming more common.

Since 2000, the number of bariatric procedures in Philadelphia's eight-county region surged 350 percent to 2,340 last year, an Inquirer computer analysis of hospital billing records shows.

And Barix, which opened in late 2002, has captured much of that growth. Its surgeons performed one-third of the obesity operations here last year.

"The big sell is that this is all we do," said Alan Brader, a surgeon and the hospital's medical director. "That means a lot to people, especially with the sensationalism surrounding this surgery."
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