Duodenal Switch Surgery

Obesity is a major concern that triggers several health related problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, sleep apnea and other. Bariatric weight loss surgery has proved to be boon for severely obese person. The surgery helps to get rid of excess weight and also reduces weight loss co-morbidities.

Bariatric weight loss surgery is extremely beneficial for individuals with BMI of more than 40 and those who failed to lose weight through dieting and other means of weight reduction. Bariatric surgery is a combination of restrictive and malabsorptive procedure. Restrictive procedure decreases the amount of food intake and malabsorptive procedure restricts the absorption of calories.

There are different types of bariatric weight loss surgery performed each year for morbid obesity are summarized below:

Gastric bypass Roux-en-Y: This is the most common type of bariatric weight loss surgery. The surgery is performed laparoscopically in which the size of the stomach is reduced and small pouch is created by cutting and stapling the stomach. The smaller stomach is then connected to the middle portion of the small intestine bypassing the remaining portion of the stomach and upper part of the small intestine. This procedure make patient feel full and reduce the amount of food intake. On an average, patient can lose up to 60% of excess weight over 18 months. The risk of death after gastric bypass surgery is less than 1%.

Gastric banding: In this procedure, an adjustable band is placed around the stomach and a small pouch is created. This reduces the capacity of stomach to hold food and thus limit the intake of food and causes feeling of fullness. The band can be loosened, tightened and adjusted time to time. It is comparatively safe procedure and patient can lose up to 50% of their excess weight over two years. The mortality rate of gastric band surgery is 0.05%.

Biliopancreatic Diversion: This is another type of bariatric weight loss surgery that changes the normal process of digestion by reducing the size of the stomach that reduces the amount food intake and bypassing part of the intestine that result into less calorie absorption. However, patient must take some vitamin supplements following the surgery because there may be risk of nutritional deficiency following the surgery. Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch promotes 80-90% of weight loss.