Gastric Bypass Surgery
Roux-en-Y Gastric
Bypass (RGB)
This is the most common
gastric bypass weight
loss procedure performed, and involves creating a small
pouch in the stomach using staples or vertical banding
to restrict food intake. Next, a section of the small
intestine is attached to the pouch, which causes food
to bypass the duodenum and jejunum (the first and second
segments of the intestines). This reduces the absorption
of calories and nutrients into your system (mal absorption),
thus facilitating weight loss. Doctors say that reversal
of this weight loss surgery is possible, but many are
reluctant to actually perform a reversal operation because
of the high risk.
Extensive Gastric
Bypass (Billionaire Diversion or BPD)
This weight
loss surgery involves removing entire portions of
the stomach. This puts the patient at higher risk for
nutritional deficiencies (especially calcium and iron).
Duodenal Switch
(DS/BPD)
This procedure involves
leaving 2 inches of the duodenum in place for digestion
in order to reduce nutritional deficiency and its complications.
Patients will still experience more deficiency than they
would with an RGB weight loss surgery. Again, reversal
of the weight loss procedure is complicated and very risky.
Patients who choose gastric
bypass weight loss surgery often
lose two-thirds of their excess weight within two years.
The risks for this type of weight loss procedure include
pouch stretching, band erosion, staple line disruption
or breakdown, abdominal hernias, an emergency splenectomy,
gallstones (occurs in more than one third of the patients)
and nutritional deficiency (especially calcium and iron).
Side effects of nutritional deficiency can include anemia,
osteoporosis, and metabolic bone disease, which you may
be able to avoid by taking vitamin supplements. Patients
may require follow-up surgery to correct complications.
The fatality rate from gastric
bypass weight loss surgery varies according to the source.
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery states that
three out of every 1,000 patients will die. Some sources
claim that the number is more like one in every 100. Either
way, the weight loss procedure is among the most risky
surgical procedures performed (markedly more than a hysterectomy,
for example).
Atkins Diet