Advertisement Area This area will be used for advertisements or special notes. For advertisement rates please contact us. If you need any help or for other information please click here to contact us... Obesity Surgery Procedures... Gastric Bypass Surgery This is by far the most commonly performed bariatric procedure. There are three variations. The three procedures are described below. The Proximal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass is by far the most use procedure in USA (and Worldwide as well). The principle behind the gastric bypass procedure is quite simply: to bring down the effective size of the stomach and to bypass the greater portion of the stomach, curbing your ability to eat too much, together with bypassing part of the intestine, reducing the body's absorption of the food that is consumed. Gastric bypass produces a significant improvement in the quality of life for patients and also has the added benefit of improving, or in some cases of curing, heartburn, diabetes, arthritis, venous status disease, hypertension and other disorders. Gastric bypass is a combination of restricting intake and reducing absorption. Weight loss occurs by two mechanisms: restricting the amount of food one can eat and by malabsorption of the calories one takes in. Proximal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass This is by far the most commonly performed bariatric procedure in the United States. It is the operation which is least likely to result in nutritional difficulties. The concept of a gastric bypass is to have food go from the beginning of the stomach straight into the jejunum, the second portion of the small intestine. The amount of stomach that is used is very small – about one fluid ounce in volume. When this part of the stomach stretches, the brain receives a signal that the person is full. This small pouch empties into the jejunum – the second portion of the small intestine (the Y-connection). That means food no longer goes through 90 percent of the stomach and the duodenum (the first portion of the small intestine). Those organs remain in the body and still do everything they are supposed to except to directly digest food. But they still manufacture juices and enzymes which are critical to the digestive process. Distal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass If the small pouch is connected farther down the Gastro intestinal tract, the amount of the intestine capable of fully absorbing nutrients is reduced. The Y-connection is made closer to the lower end of the small intestine, usually 40 to 60 inches from the lower end of the bowel, causing reduced absorption of food, mainly fats and starches, but also various minerals, and fat-soluble vitamins. The unabsorbed fats and starches pass into the large intestine, where bacterial action produces often irritants and malodorous gases.. Loop Gastric Bypass (later called the Mini Gastric Bypass) The first gastric bypass was in 1967, It used a loop of the small bowel for re-construction. Although simple to create, it allowed corrosive juices from the small bowel to enter the gastric pouch, sometimes causing severe inflammation and ulcers. It was was abandoned but recently re-employed by a few surgeons, as the "Mini-Gastric-Bypass", mainly to simplify the reconstruction, when performed laparoscopically. Although the mini gastric bypass has a low complication rate, there are now multiple reports in the medical literature of serious long-term complications with the procedure, even requiring revision surgery. Restrictive Surgeries - Gastric Banding Gastric banding has been around for about 20 years now and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of surgery. But just how does it work? Gastric banding is a form of restrictive surgery in which a band is placed around the top end of the stomach dividing the stomach into a small upper pouch holding approximately 50 ml and the remainder of the stomach holding something like 1000 ml. The patient will feel comfortably full with a small amount of food. And because of the slow emptying, the patient will continue to feel full for several hours reducing the urge to eat between meals. The majority of gastric banding operations today use an adjustable band which can be tightened or loosened around the stomach to vary the size of the opening between the newly created small pouch and the bulk of the stomach. Adjustments are made by pumping saline in or out of an inner rubber ring. Other restrictive or malabsorptive procedures There are a few other restrictive and malabsorptive procedures available. None done as often as those described above. Contact us for more info Advertisement Area This area will be used for advertisements or special notes. For advertisement rates please contact us. If you need any help or for other information please click here to contact us...