How Does Bariatric Surgery Work?
Bariatric surgery describes two basic approaches that weight loss surgery takes to achieve change:
1. Restrictive procedures that decrease the size of the stomach and limits food intake.
2. Malabsorptive procedures that alter digestion, thus causing the food to be partially digested and incompletely absorbed as it travels through the G.I. tract.
Restrictive Procedures
During these procedures, the surgeon creates a small stomach pouch, that limit the amount of food patients can eat. The smaller stomach pouch fills quickly, which helps patients feel satisfied with less food.
Examples of restrictive procedures:
Malabsorptive Procedures
Most of digestion and absorption takes place in the small intestine. In these procedures, the surgeon reroutes a portion of the small intestine so that food bypasses a portion of the bowel, thus limiting the amount of food that is completely digested or absorbed (causing malabsorption).
Combination Procedures
Certain procedures use both restriction and malabsorption. For example, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery uses a "combination" of restriction and malabsorption. During the procedure, the surgeon creates a small pouch at the upper end of your stomach with a capacity of less than two ounces. The pouch is then connected to the upper part of the small intestine, thus “bypassing” the remaining part of the stomach. Food entering the newly constructed pouch causes a sensation of fullness, then slowly empties into the intestine. This limits the amount of food or liquid you can eat or drink at one time. Because of the rerouting of the intestine, some of the calories from the ingested food are not absorbed. This leads to exceptional weight loss in the vast majority of patients.
Learn and compare the following procedures available to you at Oxford Bariatric:
In This Section:
► Laparoscopic Gastric Banding
► Laparoscopic Gastric Sleeve
► Gastric Bypass
► Weight Loss Revision Surgery