Question

When people have gastric bypass surgery, they are having stomach reduced in size surgically. What do you think would be the benefits and the negatives of having this operation?

Answer 1

Benefits: reduce size of stomach, restrict amount of food the stomach can hold, alters food course to prevent passing through small intestine that would normally absorb calories and nutrients. Effects: promotes satiety, suppress hunger, reverse primary mechanisms that causes obesity-related type 2 diabetes. In addition the surgery causes an average of 60 to 80% long term excess weight loss, which is superior to the adjustable gastric band. Typical maintenance is higher than 50%. Other pros include improvements in overall health, comorbidities, mobility, and increase in energy expenditure and quality of life.


Cons: Complex and irreversible surgery, great complication rates, mortality rate of 2.5% 90 days after procedure, despite the fact that comorbidities like diabetes and high blood pressure may be minimized or cured, the worse they are prior to the surgery the more the more likely it is for the patient to suffer from further complications, ( gastric band is reversible and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is less complex than Roux-en-y gastric bypass, which is what the cons are referring to), can cause long term vitamin deficiency particularly in: vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and folate. In addition, the surgery has a longer hospital stay than than the AGB (adjustable gastric band) and it requires adherence to dietary recommendations, life-long vitamin/mineral supplementation, and follow up compliance as explained by ASMBS ( American society for metabolic and bariatric surgery).