Adjustable Gastric Bypass
All You Need to Know about Adjustable Gastric Bypass Surgery including risks, costs, complications,and recovery.
Unlike other weight loss surgeries, the size of the stomach is reduced using an adjustable band instead of staples in adjustable gastric bypass. This is done so that the patient can only eat small meals. Basically, the procedure for this operation is that an adjustable band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to create a small pouch. This pouch can only contain little than the patient’s usual appetite and thus having it quickly filled makes the patient feel fuller than faster. After the upper part of the stomach, the food then passes down to a narrow opening created by the band into the lower part of the stomach. Also, none of the other digestive organs are bypassed in this procedure. The food would normally go through the same route.
Like other weight-loss surgeries, this is only recommended if and when the patient has tried and failed significant exercise and diet and even medicinal approach.
Alternatives are always available. An alternative surgical option is to have gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass surgery entails bypassing part of the small intestines to combine the effect of restriction and malabsorption. In gastric bypass surgery, a small pouch is created at the top of the patient’s stomach and adds a bypass around a part of your stomach as well as the upper part of the small intestines which is called the duodenum. The size of the pouch is about the size of the walnut and can only hold an ounce of food. This act limits the ability of your digestive system to absorb calories as well as fats. Despite these, the stomach still remains healthy.
The operation for having an adjustable gastric band is also done under general anesthesia. The anesthetics will be given to the patient either through a gas which the patient could inhale or through the IV to keep the patient from waking up during the surgery proper.
This operation is done laparoscopically. It will take about thirty minutes to an hour to get the surgery done. The basic procedure done during the operation is almost the same as that of the procedure in laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery. Small incisions will be made in the upper abdomen of the patient as well as making use of small instruments with camera at the tip to allow the surgeon to see the inside of the abdomen without making large incisions. The only difference is that in this kind of operation, gastric band will be used instead of staples. The size of the pouch would determine how fast the food will leave the stomach. This can be adjusted by adding or removing fluid to or from the band. A thin tube then connects the band to a port that has been placed under the chest cavity, just below your rib cage.
A few weeks after the operation, the surgeon will adjust the band, in time for the swelling from the surgery to settle down. The band should be expected to be adjusted two to three times after the operation.
