This is a great article about bariatric surgery procedures, and how it will help you in losing weight.
An overview of bariatric surgery
The science of medicine has tremendously progressed in the last few decades, going from methods which are qualified today as being primitive all the way to complex, live-saving operations humans couldn’t even dream of performing earlier.With obesity being an increasingly-large epidemic around the world, and especially in first-world countries, it should not come as a surprise that a number of different procedures were devised to help those with weight problems, and they are all generally referred to as bariatric surgery.
What is bariatric surgery?
To explain things in greater detail, bariatric surgery refers to a certain number of different procedures, all of which are focused on helping obese people lose weight, particularly in the stomach and abdomen areas. The way in which it is done depends on the actual method used, but more on that later.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health have set in place official recommendations for when people ought to consider undergoing such a procedure, and according to their guidelines, all obese people with a BMI (Body Mass Index) over 40 should think about it, and that goes double for anyone with pre-existing medical conditions.
It must be noted that recent forays into bariatric surgery have produced results which indicate that some of the procedures may be suitable for people with a BMI between 30 and 40. Of course, as was already mentioned before, whether or not bariatric surgery is worth undergoing for a patient is largely based on the specific procedure he or she is aiming for, and so here is an overview of what each one of them entails.
The types and procedures of bariatric surgery
Malabsorptive procedures
The malabsorptive procedures purpose to reduce stomach size and capacity, these procedures are effective basically from creating a physiological condition of malabsorption.
Biliopancreatic Diversion
A very complex operation (the original version of which is no longer performed due to various complications), the biliopancreatic diversion consists of restricting a certain part of the stomach and lowering its total size.
After that, the distal part of the small intestine is taken and fused together with the stomach pouch, allowing it to bypass the jejunum and duodenum, two other sections of the intestine.
Because of the tremendously-powerful effects of the surgery, those who undergo it are often forced to take various nutrients in the form of supplements just for maintenance purposes.
Without them, the patients run a tremendous risk of suffering from malnutrition-related illnesses, such as osteoporosis and anemia. Also, the patient may be required to take medication in order to reduce the likeliness of any gallstones developing.
Endoluminal Sleeve
A procedure for those who don’t really want to go under the knife, the endoluminal sleeve is inserted through the mouth and installed right in the upper part of the small intestine, alongside the jejunum and duodenum.
In other words, this is going to create a bypass without any kind of surgery, preventing you from over-eating. During the first week or two the patient is very likely to feel some type of discomfort and may vomit if too much food is ingested.
Jejunoileal Bypass
This procedure is no longer performed. However, it’s an old surgical weight loss procedure that was performed in the 50′s to the 70′s of the 20th century.
Restrictive procedures
The restrictive procedures purpose to limit food intake by reducing stomach size, and leaving the alimentary canal in continuity to minimize the metabolic risks and complications, it also produces fast satiation, lap band is one of the known procedures.
Sleeve Gastrectomy
Also referred to as a gastric sleeve, this is a weight loss surgery which once again focuses on the stomach more than anything else.
More precisely, it removes a large portion of it and causes it to shrink to around 15% to 25% of it’s original size. The openings are naturally re-attached together, leaving the stomach in the shape of a banana.
Though the process is permanent and cannot be undone in any way, many patients have been observed to lose up to 50% of their excess body weight over a period of six months to a year, perhaps making it worthwhile.
Though the procedure does not prevent the stomach from functioning as it usually does, it tremendously limits the amount food you can ingest.
Banded Gastroplasty
There are two main banded gastroplasty procedures for you to consider, with the first one being the vertical variant.
Basically, it consists of stapling together parts of your stomach, effectively lessening the total size being used for the digestion of food.
The other variant is the adjustable gastric band also referred as lap band, and as its name indicates, this little silicone band can be adjusted or removed with the use of saline through a special port located right under the patient’s skin.
In many cases patients choose to have this procedure done laparoscopically (meaning only small incisions are inflicted) for it is quite safe and simple, with a mortality rate of 0.05%.
This procedure prevents your body from absorbing a size-able portion of the food you eat because of the much smaller gastric pouch.
Gastric Balloon
Before talking about the procedure itself, it should be noted that it hasn’t yet been approved by the FDA, but it is commonly performed in various countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, Mexico and India.
It is a simple procedure that consists of inserting a deflated balloon into the patient’s stomach and then pumping it up until the desired amount of gastric space remains. It estimated that those who have undergone the procedure have seen their BMI drop from 5 to 10 points over a period of six months.
Gastric Plication
Basically speaking, this is a different version of the sleeve gastrectomy bariatric surgery, with the only difference being that this one has much more impactful results, in the sense that the size of the stomach is very significantly reduced.
A study was actually conducted over a period of three years, following sixty-six patients (forty-four of which were women) as they lived normally after undergoing gastric plication. None of them developed complications and the results were very similar to those provided by a gastric bypass.
Mixed procedures
Gastric Bypass
Here it is, the one most common weight loss procedure performed in the United States of America, being done, on average, more than 140,000 times per year.
The most common type of gastric bypass for which patients go for is called Roux-en-Y, and it consists of creating a smaller stomach pouch with the use of stapler device and connecting it to the small intestine, the upper part of which is then re-attached to form the shape of the letter “Y”.
Though the procedure was believed to be irreversible, there are some instances where gastric bypasses were at least partially reversed.
Implantable Gastric Simulation
A procedure which was developed only recently, it entails the implantation of a device that regularly stimulates the stomach by sending out electrical discharges to it, not unlike a pacemaker used to make hearts beat.
At the moment, the method is still under examination, but it is believed that the electrical stimulation is capable of changing the way in which the nervous system of the stomach acts, effectively tricking the brain into thinking the body is full and satiated, helping to deal with hunger cravings.
Sleeve Gastrectomy with a Duodenal Switch
Finally, there is this variation of the biliopancreatic diversion, and it involves restricting a part of the stomach and turning it into a tube with a total volume of around 150-200ml, preventing too much food or drink from being ingested.
After that, the stomach is completely sectioned from the duodenum and reattached to the distal part of the small intestine.
Finally, the duodenum and the upper small intestine are re-connected around 75cm to 1m away from the colon.
The Aftermath
The Post-Surgery Effect
As you can tell, most of the procedures described above require the patient to undergo some type of surgery, and for the most part, the consequences are the same. For starters, you will have to contend with all the general symptoms which come from using an anesthetic, but that really isn’t anything new.
If you have endured the type of procedure which requires your stomach to be sectioned somewhere, then you should prepare to deal with regular pains as the wounds heal up in your digestive tract. In addition, the amount of food and types of it you can eat will be severely restricted, and it will be of utmost importance to adhere to your nutrition plan without deviations for you could end up damaging some of your organs.
Read more: http://www.bariatricguide.org/what-is-bariatric-surgery/#ixzz2o3JIPs00
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