Duodenal Switch Surgery

Duodenal Switch surgery is a type of weight loss surgery that includes both restrictive and malabsorptive components. This is one of the most successful gastric bypass surgery that treats morbid obesity. Actually the Duodenal switch or DS surgery promotes weight loss by restricting the quantity of food intake and the malabsorptive absorption that is fat accumulation from the food.

In Duodenal switch gastric bypass, the stomach is reduced into a small size creating a pouch and thus restricting the quantity of food intake by the patients. Then the upper part of the small intestine is bypassed forming two channels, one for carrying juices or biles and other that carry food from the stomach to the lower part of the small intestine. Then, the biliopancreatic channel is joined with the food channel to form a common loop that connects to the larger intestine such that the nutrients are absorbed into the body normally. This procedure reduces the amount of fat and calories absorbed from the foods.

Duodenal switch surgery promotes successful weight loss in many patients. As compared to Lap band or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, Duodenal Switch patients can lose between 60 to 80% of their excess weight. It is especially effective for patients having Body mass index of more than 40. The major advantage of DS gastric bypass as compared to other surgery like Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the pylorus valve that kept intact at the lower part of the stomach. The pylorus is a small muscular valve that controls when food will leaves the stomach and enters into the intestine that it keeps the food in the stomach until it is properly digested and then allows it to move to the bowel.

Moreover, due to this the chances of dumping syndrome become minimal. Also, with duodenal switch gastric bypass the chances of stomach ulcers get reduced comparing to other weight loss surgery. It is also found that this surgery also helps to cure type-2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, hypertension and high blood pressure in some patients.

With every surgery, some sort of risk and complications are associated. However, Ds patients are found to have minimal health risks. The only possible risk with this surgery is that patients may have nutritional deficiency that can be controlled with the help of proper nutritional supplement as prescribed by the doctor. But the truth is that, duodenal switch gastric bypass is really helpful for patients who want to get rid of their excess weight.