Duodenal Switch Surgery

Obesity is major issue that triggers serious health related problems. To overcome this problem, large numbers of weight loss surgeries are performed every year. Weight loss surgery not only helps people with morbid obesity but also reduces weight loss related co-morbidities like sleep apnea, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure and other. Let’s have a look on two routinely performed weight loss surgery named ds vs gastric bypass.

As far as two surgical procedures are concerned, they are more or less similar with each other. Gastric bypass surgery also referred to as Roux-en-Y surgery involves reducing the section of the stomach to limit the food intake and partial bypass of small intestine to limit calorie absorption. Typically, patient loses 60% of their excess weight after the surgery and is considered to be more successful surgery compared to restrictive procedures.

On the other hand, duodenal switch (ds) surgery also referred to as biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch involves reducing the size of the stomach and creating a small banana shaped pouch. As in gastric bypass, upper part of the stomach is bisected to create a small gastric pouch and the upper part of the intestine is routed to the gastric pouch through a small Y-shaped connection. But in duodenal switch, about half of the small intestine is bypassed and stomach is connected to the remaining small intestine via short channel where food and digestive juices are mixed.

Duodenal switch (ds) surgery involves both restriction and malabsorption of food but compared to gastric bypass; it is less routinely performed due to its technical difficulties. However, recent study shows that duodenal switch is more successful in promoting weight loss compared to gastric bypass. In a survey done on gastric and duodenal switch patients, it is noticed that duodenal switch patients lose 50% more weight as compared to the gastric bypass surgery.

Gastric bypass patients may experience certain complications following the surgery like dumping syndrome, diarrhea, chest pain and malnutrition. Contrast to this, in duodenal switch surgery, there is least risk of having dumping syndrome; however, there may be nutritional deficiency due to malabsorption. Overall, both gastric bypass and duodenal switch surgery is more or less similar, yet duodenal switch is considered to be more effective for severely obese people.