Weight loss surgery is the last option for those who are morbidly obese. There are many types of weight loss surgery which patients can choose from depending on their health condition.
The types of weight loss surgery are divided in two groups. The first group is known to be as restrictive procedures while the second group works as malabsorptive procedures.
Restrictive procedure aims to restrict food intake while malabsorptive surgery alters the way digestion works.
Vertical Banded Gastroplasty is strictly restrictive surgical treatment to which the upper stomach of esophagus is stapled. The stapling covers six centimeters to create a smaller pouch.
The pouch is then restricted by ring or band, which will then slow down the emptying of the digested food thus resulting to feeling of satiety.
Advantages of Vertical Banded Gastroplasty:
Food intake normally enters the digestive tract the usual order of digestion and the nutrients from the foods are really absorbed by the body unlike in other surgical procedures.
Weight losses of people who undergo this surgery were still evident even after ten years.
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding or Lap band is strictly restrictive procedure. It was coined as lap band since a band is placed in the upper part of the stomach. The band is placed there to divide the stomach in two parts, the small and larger parts.
After the patients undergo lap band, it is expected that they will loose weight since their food intake will be restricted because they will feel immediately feel fullness much faster.
Advantages of Laparoscopic Adjustable Banding:
The food intake will be dramatically less since patients will feel fullness immediately.
This surgery is reversible unlike other surgical procedures.
2. Malabsorptive Procedure
Biliopancreatic Diversion
Biliopancreatic Diversion is one example of malabsorptive procedure. This surgery is done to decrease the size of the stomach and like other surgical procedures, a pouch is created, however, the pouch created for biliopancreatic diversion is quite larger compared to other surgical options.
Biliopancreatic Diversion have three variations: biliopancreatic diversion, extended (Distal) Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGBP-E) and Biliopancreatic Diversion with "Duodenal Switch ".
Advantages of Biliopancreatic Diversion:
Patients who undergo biliopancreatic diversion can eat larger meals compared to those who undergo gastric bypass.
This procedure results to greatest loss of weight due to malabsorption of foods.
Combination of Restrictive and Malabsorptive Procedure
Aside from restrictive procedure and malabsorptive procedure, advanced studies and technology allowed that restrictive procedure could also be combined with malabsorptive procedures. The most popular surgical procedure, which combined the two, is gastric bypass.
Gastric Bypass
Gastric bypass is the most frequently performed surgery for weight loss according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. This procedure staples the upper part of the stomach and creates 15 to 200 cc of pouch. The outlet created from the pouch will then allow the food to empty in the lower part of jejunum thus result to '°bypass'± of calories.
Advantages of Gastric Bypass
Studies show that patients who undergo gastric bypass had maintained sixty percent of weight loss even after ten years.
Gastric bypass success rate right after the procedure is relatively high when compared to restrictive procedures. Doctors are more comfortable doing gastric bypass since it's been around for almost fifty years.
