Gastric Bypass Surgery

Maybe you have heard of Sharon Osbourne, Carnie Wilson, and Randy Jackson's weight loss surgery. All of them have undergone what is called the gastric bypass surgery, which has become popular now because of these celebrities who revealed their stories.

Gastric bypass surgery is a complicated and serious type of surgery to address extreme obesity. This is usually recommended to those who have already tried numerous dieting and exercise but nothing seemed to work for them. This is common to those whose body mass index is 40 and above or when the patient's weight is a life-threatening or disabling condition.

Gastric bypass surgery should be recommended by health professionals as the last resort for the possibility of weight loss for obese individuals.

However, with the kind of society that we have right now where you have to be skinny to be beautiful, some people think that this surgery is a quick fix for their ongoing weight issues. This should not be the case as this surgery poses several risks to the patient's health. Still, diet and exercise are the best and more effective ways of losing weight.

How Is This Done?

In gastric bypass surgery, the stomach is made smaller and makes food bypass a portion of the small intestine. There are different kinds of gastric bypass and the most common is the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

In a Roux-en-Y, a small pouch is created at the top of the stomach to make it smaller by using surgical staples or plastic band. This smaller stomach is connected straight to the middle part of the small intestine (called jejunum). This procedure bypasses most of the stomach and the upper part of the small intestine (called duodenum).

By making the stomach smaller, the patient will begin to feel full a lot faster than when it was in its original size. This means reduced food intake and fewer calories absorbed as well which translate to weight loss.

Most people who have undergone the procedure quickly began losing weight up to 12 months after the surgery. These people had reportedly lost a third of their excess weight in 1 to 4 years. Some of those lost pounds may be regained, though.

Short History

The first gastric bypass surgery was developed at the University of Iowa in 1967 by surgeon Edward E. Mason. He developed this idea after he noticed that most people who had large parts of their stomach or intestines removed due to cancer or ulcer lost a great deal of weight no matter how much they ate.

In 1991, the National Institute of Health endorsed Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery as an option to treat the dangerous kind of obesity. On the same year, the "Fobi Pouch," by Dr. Fobi, was also approved by the same organization. This "Fobi Pouch" replaces the person's stomach so the food can entirely bypass the main stomach and bowel.