| Bariatrics
is the branch of medicine which deals with the prevention, control, and
treatment of obesity. The current gold standard for bariatric surgery is
known as the gastric bypass.
The
gastric bypass is a common weight-loss surgery. There are basically two
different approaches to the surgical treatment of morbid obesity:
Restrictive
Procedures.
Restrictive
surgery decreases or limits the amount of food that can be eaten by reducing
the size of the stomach from the size of a grapefruit to the size of a
golfball.
Malabsorptive
Procedures.
Malabsorptive
procedures combine reduction of the stomach size with bypass of a large
amount of the intestine, reducing the absorption of nutrients and calories.
This may lead to nutritional inefficiency as well as protein, vitamin,
and mineral deficiencies. It may also cause food to be eliminated in the
stool in the form of diarrhea.
In
just the last few years, the number of weight loss operations has doubled
to about 50,000 annually. Mayo clinic researchers report that gastric bypass
“may be the current surgery of choice in patients requiring surgery for
obesity,” because it is a “safe effective procedure for most patients with
morbid obesity.”
On
the average, gastric bypass patients lose about 100 pounds, and this weight
loss is maintained for at least 10-14 years. Additional clinical
research has shown that this weight loss leads to a significant improvement
in the health status of many gastric bypass patients. Many patients
suffering from Type II diabetes no longer require medication after weight
loss surgery. Patients who could not previously have necessary joint
replacements became good candidates for the operation, usually with excellent
results. Other medical conditions found to improve after gastric
bypass include back and joint pain, sleep apnea, leg swelling, slipped
disks, and lipid levels.
Gastric
bypass may be performed as traditional open surgery or as a laparoscopic
procedure. Laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, gastric bypass is
performed through several small incisions, which may help reduce recovery
time and post-surgical pain. In the United States, approximately
15,000 patients have had a laparoscopic gastric bypass, with significant
weight loss results.
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