Surgery For Weight Loss
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Losing excess weight is one thing and keeping it off is another. Now it appears that for those who qualify, weight loss surgery such as gastric bypass seems to help people not only lose a significant amount of weight but also keeps the weight off long term.
The recently published study in JAMA Surgery from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, researched around 1,800 men and women who had undergone gastric bypass surgery. The average age of the patients studied was 52 years of age and most of Caucasian ethnicity. The amount of weight lost was compared to weight changes in more than 5,300 obese veterans who had not used any weight-loss surgery or any formal treatment for weight loss.
Results from the study found that 10 years after a person underwent gastric bypass surgery, 564 of the almost 1,800 patients weighed 21 percent less than at the start of the study when compared to the group of veterans who did not use weight loss surgery. Another encouraging finding was only 19 of the 1,800 patients had regained almost all of their weight back while the vast majority had kept their weight off.
This study is important as it followed the patients for 10 years which is much longer than other studies which have followed-up on success of the long term effects of keeping the weight off after weight loss surgery.
In addition to studying gastric bypass surgery, the researchers also compared sleeve gastrectomy and adjustable gastric banding, two other surgical methods for weight loss. Four years after a patient had undergone one of the three types of surgery for weight loss, those who had gastric bypass lost nearly 28 percent of their starting weight, those who used sleeve gastrectomy lost 18 percent and others using gastric banding lost around 11 percent.
Surgeries for weight loss are performed in a hospital setting with the use of general anesthesia. Not everyone wanting to lose weight is a candidate for weight loss surgery. Qualifications for any bariatric surgery include:
· Body Mass Index or BMI equal or greater than 40 or more than 100 pounds overweight
The most common bariatric surgery procedures are the following:
· Gastric bypass surgery – This surgery involves making the stomach smaller and attaching the lower part of the small intestine directly to the stomach, so much of the small intestine is bypassed. People will get a feeling of fullness much faster than normal resulting in significant weight loss of about 60 to 80 percent excess weight loss. This surgery appears to alter gut hormones, gut bacteria, and metabolism. It can however, lead to long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies particularly of vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and folate.
· Sleeve gastrectomy – This non-reversible surgery restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold is performed by removing approximately 80 percent of the stomach. The remaining stomach is a tubular pouch that resembles a banana. Sleeve gastrectomy causes favorable changes in gut hormones that suppress hunger, reduce appetite, and improves satiety. This surgery also has potential for long-term vitamin deficiencies.
· Adjustable gastric band – This reversible and adjustable surgery involves an inflatable band that is placed around the upper portion of the stomach, creating a small stomach pouch above the band with the rest of the stomach below the band. It can induce a weight loss of about 40 to 50 percent and involves no cutting of the stomach or rerouting of the intestine. There can be mechanical problems with the band, tube or port in a small percentage of patients and it has the highest rate of re-operation.
Any person considering bariatric surgery and meets the qualifications will need to make an appointment with a bariatric surgeon who can give a complete overview of each surgery reviewing which one best meets the needs of each individual.