Bariatric Surgery

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Surgical weight loss is available for overweight or obese people with gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass surgery provides long-term weight loss with improved and resolved medical issues of Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, GERD, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. When individuals are overweight, they face medical complications that can be resolved with the gastric bypass surgery that are available to improve their overall health.

LAGM or lap band surgery is a procedure that uses an adjustable gastric band. The process consists of using an inflatable band to create two sections of the stomach with the band wrapping around the stomach creating an upper and lower section of the stomach. The surgeon to create a small passage between the two areas of the original stomach tightens the band. The procedure is both a long-term or short-term alternative for weight loss since the band can be removed. LAGB is the most common gastric bypass surgery due to being a simple process while providing a slower alternative to weight loss.

Biliopancreatic is a procedure that removes over 80% of the original stomach to create a permanent small stomach region. This process then connects the stomach directly to the small intestine with the bypassing of the larger portion of the small intestines being connected to the lower areas of the stomach. This surgical procedure is frequently only used on individuals with a high body mass index of 50 or more due to the extreme level of obesity. The major surgery is highly effective to reduce the weight and increase the overall health of the patients suffering from the high BMI levels.

Stomach stapling is also called vertical banding surgery. The procedure separates the stomach into two sections to reduce the space for food consumed. This smaller new stomach then results in weight loss and less consumption of food on a regular basis. Although this is not technically in medical terms a bypass procedure, some people still consider this a form of bypass surgery due to the alteration of the stomach size. The smaller stomach allows for the food and liquids to be emptied directly into the lower section of the stomach- bypassing the upper regions of the stomach- to enter directly into the intestines. This surgical procedure is less commonly used due to the newer techniques of other bariatric surgery procedures yet it is still a highly effective manner to lose weight effectively.

Bariatric surgery is performed over 140,000 per year. The procedure is complex and costly yet that does not stop people from using the surgery to lose weight. The average cost for gastric bypass ranging between $18,000 and $35,000. The average cost for lap band surgery ranges between $17,000 and $30,000.

The high costs are related of the bariatric surgery are for the pre operation lab work, X-ray fees, anesthesia, surgeon’s fee, and hospital costs. Depending on the extent of the surgery and the length of the recovery of the surgery, the fees vary. Additional costs for any post operational procedures include dietary plans, behavioral coaching and education, nutritional supplements, fitness regimens, and body contouring to remove the excess skin from the drastic weight loss. The typical body that experiences such a drastic weight loss will experience sagging skin and requires the body lift to improve the loose muscles and fat deposits. It is important to remember there are various types of bariatric surgery that will entail numerous variables and recovery of each individual patient that will create the escalated costs of surgery.

Gastric banding costs include the hospital stay, surgeon fee, pre surgery lab work, X-ray fees, and appointments leading up to the surgery for the first year of the surgery. The post surgical fees are additional that  include behavioral counseling, exercise regimens, and diet counseling as well as follow visits for the first year. Body contouring surgery is additional and very costly. Gastric sleeve surgery, duodenal switch surgery, and gastric bypass all share the same type of costs for each procedure with the additional variables affecting the overall price.

It is important to remember the possible costs associated with the bariatric surgery and the post surgical procedures that may also include face lifts, beast augmentations, breast lifts, liposuction, and adbominoplasty. These procedures are often performed two years after the original surgery but are still important considerations for related costs.
When a person is obese and loses weight, they will have large amounts of excess skin. The more skin there is that hangs or sags, the higher costs of the post surgical procedures is higher based on the amounts of skin to be removed surgically.

Gastric bypass surgery often referred to as bariatric surgery or a surgeon performs Roux-en-Y bypass surgery. The surgeon creates a pouch at the top section of the stomach then adds a bypass around the stomach to the small

intestines.The surgeon staples the top section of the stomach to seal it off from the other part of the stomach creating the new pouch for the stomach that will only allow for a few ounces of food or liquid. The new pouch is completely separate from the original stomach, attached to the small intestines with a small incision, and sewed to the new stomach.

The bariatric surgery changes the original anatomy of the digestive tract to limit the consumption of food to lead to drastic weight loss for people suffering for obesity. This form of surgery is the preferred method of gastric surgery due to the limited risks and side effects for the patient.

Bariatric surgery does require a new diet and lifestyle habit of the individuals undergoing the procedure, as they will need to learn healthier habits as well as behavioral changes to maintain an increased overall health.The surgery is performed with a laparoscope that is a small instrument with a camera. It is inserted into the stomach region reducing the recovery time and hospitalization for the procedure. The healing time is considerably reduced as well as the scarring from the surgery. The surgery is performed under general anesthesia allowing the patient to sleep during the procedure.

During the surgery, a tube is inserted through the patient’s nose into the upper stomach region. The tube is connected to a machine to remove the contents to help the staple line to heal properly. A second tube is inserted into the stomach region and is in place up to six weeks after surgery for healing purposes. Generally, the surgery will take about four hours to perform. The duration of the hospital stay is contingent on the healing of each individual and the surgeon.

After surgery, you will not be allowed to consume any food for about three says to allow your stomach to heal. Afterwards, you will have to follow a strict diet for 12 weeks of liquids, soft and pureed food, then progressing onto normal foods. This is the time for your stomach to recover from surgery.

Whether it is called bariatric surgery or weight loss surgery, it is a surgery performed on the stomach and intestines of individuals that are obese for the sole purpose of losing the excess weight. There are two common

gastric bypass(Roux-en-Y)

procedures for the surgery called Roux-en-Y that closes off part of the stomach while bypassing parts of the intestine. The second is gastric banding where a band in placed around the stomach reducing the original size. Both types of procedures have shown in studies to have long-term weight loss, reduced cardiovascular risks, decreased mortality, and recuperation from diabetes.

Laparoscopic bariatric surgery has a short hospital stay of about two days with short-term complications compared to Roux-en-Y surgery. The banding surgery reduces the size of the stomach to reduce amounts of food consumed and requiring the individuals to eat several times a day instead of the standard three meals a day practice.
The banding can be either a permanent or a temporary procedure. In the permanent procedures, stomach is stapled or reduced to create a smaller stomach pouch to replace the originally larger stomach.

The adjustable gastric band has the same effect yet uses a silicone band that can be adjusted with additional or reduction of saline via a port placed beneath the skin. This surgery is performed laparscopically and often called “lap band” surgery.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the more common of the two procedures. The process consists of creating a smaller stomach pouch with a stapled device and is then connected to the small intestine. The upper part of the old intestine is reattached to create the “Y” shape.

Bariatric surgery is the most common performed surgery for weight loss. In 2005, approximately 140,000 surgeries were performed. It is a practice that has been performed over 50 years and has long since weeded out the complications for the patients with high results of permanent weight loss. After patients have surgery, they are required to learn new eating habits and an exercise routine to help manage their weight loss and maintenance for higher long-term results. Most people having the bariatric surgery have seen drastic weight loss and improve health conditions with reduction of diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart disease.

There is a point you reach that causes you to realize you need to do something drastically different.  Your body is being hurt by your weight.  Your joints are being stressed and pulled out of shape. Your heart is being overworked as are

your other organs as your body struggles with obesity. You’ve tried to diet, but even those times you’ve had a little success it’s not enough and far too slow. Your body can’t weight wait anymore to find relief.  You need to do something about your weight now. You want to know more about Bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery has been around longer than most people realize. It’s actually been practiced in one form or another since then ’50′s in the U.S.  Bariatric surgery simply wasn’t the most common treatment for obesity until the late 90′s. The number of people getting the surgery increases every day.  In 2007 over 200,000 had bariatric surgery as a treatment for their weight problem.

There’s good reason for the popularity of bariatric surgery since it can help patients see a dramatic weight loss and a change in their lives.  Bariatric surgery works in three ways.

It restricts the amount of food your stomach can hold and preventing your digestive system from absorbing all the calories from the food you’ve eaten. The third way is a combination of the first two.

Bariatric Surgery can entail one of many techniques. Gastric banding and Gastroplasty are both very common types of surgery, which restrict what the stomach can hold at one time. In both surgeries a very small part of the stomach is partitioned off to make a pouch at the end of the esophagus capable of holding the capacity of a shot glass.  This partitioned off pouch fills up quickly then empties slowly into a narrow opening to the larger part of the stomach.

When the Bariatric surgery involves banding this sectioning off of a portion is done by placing a band around the top end of the stomach.

In Gastroplasty the method is done by “stapling” a section of the stomach and placing a band around the opening between the created pouch and stomach.
These methods have proven to be faster than most weight loss aids and very effective in most cases.