Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric Surgery for Morbid Obesity

A person whose body mass index exceeds 30 is considered as obese. Body mass index is the ratio of the weight of a person divided by the square of his height. Obesity has severe impact on normal physical functions like breathing, walking etc.  24 million persons in USA are having morbid obesity. Type-2 diabetes is associated with morbid obesity which can cause heart diseases, kidney failure etc. High blood pressure high cholesterol etc are some other associated diseases which can lead to many other diseases.

Bariatric surgery is a set of procedures which are intended to reduce the obesity of the person undergoing these surgeries. Restriction of food taken by an obese person and reducing the absorption of calories by the body are two common procedures followed in bariatric surgery.

Laparoscopic gastric banding

Laparoscopic gastric banding is a bariatric procedure intended to reduce the quantity of food intake of a person. In this process the stomach is made small by placing a silicon band above the abdomen to reduce the volume of the stomach. This smaller stomach will be filled by less volume of food and the person will not feel hungry.  Thus by reducing the quantity of food intake the accumulation of fat can be reduced which will help to reduce the obesity.Complications in this type of surgery are rare.  The important benefit of this surgery is that it can be reversed,

if necessary, by removing the band. As the food intake is less the body will take the required energy from the fat accumulated in the body. This will help speedy reduction of overweight. It has been found that a weight loss of about 50 % is achieved after one year from the date of operation. Considerable improvement had been noticed in all the diseases associated with obesity. Dieting and exercising after are highly recommended for achieving the full benefits of the surgery.

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery

In this type of surgery size of the stomach is reduced by stapling a section of it which controls the amount of food that can be taken in. The small intestine is cut in the middle and is connected to the reduced stomach. In this way the upper part of the small intestine and a good portion of the stomach are bypassed. This process reduces of absorption calories as the area of contact is reduced. As the food intake will decrease considerably after this surgery, it is recommended that you may take vitamin and calcium tablets to avoid deficiencies. Internal bleeding and infection are some of the possible risks of this procedure.