Gastric bypass surgery

Alternative Names: Bariatric surgery - gastric bypass; Roux-en-Y gastric bypass; Gastric bypass - Roux-en-Y

Gastric bypass is surgery that helps you lose weight by changing how your stomach and small intestine handle the food you eat.

After the surgery, your stomach will be smaller. You will feel full with less food.

The food you eat will no longer go into some parts of your stomach and small intestine that break down food. Because of this, your body will not absorb all of the calories from the food you eat.

See also: Laparoscopic gastric banding

Description of Procedure

You will have general anesthesia before this surgery. You will be asleep and pain-free.

There are two steps during gastric bypass surgery:

• The first step makes your stomach smaller. Your surgeon will use staples to divide your stomach into a small upper section and a larger bottom section. The top section of your stomach (called the pouch) is where the food you eat will go. The pouch is about the size of a walnut. It holds only about 1 ounce of food.
• The second step is the bypass. Your surgeon will connect a small part of your small intestine (the jejunum) to a small hole in your pouch. The food you eat will now travel from the pouch into this new opening into your small intestine. Because of this, your body will absorb fewer calories.

Gastric bypass can be done in two ways. With open surgery, your surgeon will make a large surgical cut to open up your belly. Your surgeon will do the bypass by working on your stomach, small intestine, and other organs.

Another way to do this surgery is to use a tiny camera, called a laparoscope. This camera is placed in your belly. The surgery is called laparoscopy.

In this surgery:

• First, your surgeon will make 4 to 6 small cuts in your belly.
• Then your surgeon will pass the laparoscope through one of these cuts. It will be connected to a video monitor in the operating room. Your surgeon will look at the monitor to see inside your belly.
• Your surgeon will use thin surgical instruments to do your bypass. These instruments will be inserted through the other cuts.

Advantages of laparoscopy over open surgery include:

• Shorter hospital stay and quicker recovery
• Less pain
• Smaller scars and a lower risk of getting a hernia or infection

This surgery takes about 2 to 4 hours.

Risks of Gastric bypass surgery

Gastric bypass is major surgery and it has many risks. Some of these risks are very serious. You should discuss these with your surgeon.

Risks for any surgery or anesthesia include:

• Allergic reactions to medicines
• Blood clots in the legs that may travel to your lungs
• Blood loss
• Breathing problems
• Heart attack or stroke during or after surgery
• Infection, including in the cut, lungs (pneumonia), bladder, or kidney

There are a number of risks for any weight-loss surgery. There are also risks that are more likely after gastric bypass surgery.

Roux-en-Y stomach surgery for weight loss	Adjustable gastric banding	Vertical banded gastroplasty	Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD)
Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch	Dumping syndrome

Review Date: 8/17/2011
Reviewed By: Ann Rogers, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery; Director, Penn State Surgical Weight Loss Program, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

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