A lot of weight-loss techniques have been introduced in recent years to help lose weight. Similarly, bariatric surgery also contributes to weight loss in many ways that lower your risk of medical problems associated with obesity. There are different bariatric surgeries that help in weight loss in two main ways:
Restrictive: Surgery that limits the quantity of food held by your stomach, which ultimately restricts the number of calories you consume daily.
Malabsorptive: Surgery to shorten or bypass a part of your small intestine, which limits the number of nutrients and calories absorbed by your body.
The four common types of bariatric surgeries for weight-loss performed by Dr. V. Pareek include:
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
- Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding
- Sleeve gastrectomy
- Duodenal switch with biliopancreatic diversion
- Vagal Blockade or vBloc
- AspireAssist
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: It is also called as Gastric Bypass Surgery. Gastric bypass is associated with both restrictive and malabsorptive approaches.
In this procedure, your stomach will be divided into two parts, sealing off the upper portion from the lower. Then the upper abdomen is directly connected to the lower section of the small intestine.
Essentially, the procedure creates a shortcut for the food you eat. It bypasses a part of your stomach, i.e. the upper part of your small intestine. Skipping these parts of your digestive tract limits your body to absorb fewer calories.
Pros: Weight loss happens to be fast and dramatic. Nearly 50% of your weight loss happens in the first six months and continues for up to 2 years post-operation. Due to rapid weight loss, the conditions caused by obesity like diabetes, high BP, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, heartburn might get better rapidly.
Gastric bypass is known for its good long-term results. Studies say that many people after surgery, keep maintain their weight loss for more than ten years.
Cons: You won’t be able to absorb food the way you used to, which may put you at risk for lack of nutrients. You should be very careful with the diet you follow and other supplements because of a lack of calcium and iron which may lead to osteoporosis and anaemia.
Another risk after gastric bypass is a dumping syndrome, where the food dumps directly from the stomach into your intestines before proper digestion.
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding: This is a type of surgery where a silicone elastic ring filled with saline solution is placed around the top of your stomach which creates a small pouch.
This procedure makes you feel full even if you eat a small amount of food. The size of the band can be adjusted by injecting or removing the salt solution through a small device placed under your skin.
After surgery, you need several visits to the doctor for adjusting the size of the band over time. The surgeon can remove the band if it causes any complications or not helping you lose weight.
Pros: Gastric banding is more straightforward and safer than other bariatric procedures. You may get minor scars and can recover faster. You have an option to adjust the band or remove the band surgically if you face any complications.
To restrict your stomach size, more saline solution can be injected into the band. To increase the stomach size, the doctor removes liquid from the band.
Cons: People who undergo this treatment of gastric banding have less weight loss compared to other bariatric surgeries. Often people may regain weight over the years.
Sleeve Gastrectomy: Also called gastric sleeve surgery or vertical sleeve gastrectomy. In this procedure, the surgeon removes 75% of your stomach, and a banana-shaped section of the stomach is left with staples. Similar to gastric band surgery, this procedure also limits the amount of food that can fit in your stomach that makes you feel full sooner.
Pros: For some people with obesity, other weight-loss surgeries might be risky. Whereas the gastric sleeve procedure is simpler and lower-risk to lose weight. If needed, they can undergo gastric bypass after losing weight with improved health, usually, after 12 to 18 months.
As your intestine isn’t affected, this sleeve gastrectomy procedure doesn’t affect your food absorption by your body, so you may not fall short on nutrients.
Cons: Sleeve gastrectomy procedure is irreversible, unlike gastric banding. Relatively it’s a new procedure, so the long-term benefits and other risk factors are being evaluated for the most reliable results.
Mini Gastric Bypass: This is a version of a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure. In this procedure, the surgeon separates more than 70% of your stomach and sometimes even bypasses part of the small intestine.The amount of Bypass intestines depends on the metabolic status of patients.
As a result, these changes limit the absorption of calories and nutrients by your body and leads to weight loss.
Pros: Mini gastric bypass surgery can help to lose weight faster than gastric bypass surgery. Even though a large portion of the stomach is separated with this surgery, still you can able to eat larger meals unlike gastric bypass or banding procedures.
Cons: Biliopancreatic diversion is less preferred than gastric bypass because of the risk of not getting sufficient nutrients that leads to various health complications. It also poses some risks like gastric bypass, which include dumping syndrome. But the risks of the duodenal switch are less when compared to gastric bypass.
Vagal Blockade or vBloc: A pacemaker-like device is implanted which sends electrical impulses regular to the vagus nerve ( the nerve that extends from the brain to stomach) of the brain that the stomach is full. The device is implanted under your rib cage and can be operated by remote outside of the body.
Pros: This procedure is the least invasive of all weight-loss surgeries and also takes less time for the operation.
Cons: If the battery drains completely, it has to reprogram. Some of the complications associated with this procedure include nausea, heartburn, problems of swallowing, vomiting and chest pain etc.
AspireAssist: AspireAssist is a device that helps in a malabsorptive/restrictive approach to weight loss. A small incision is made in the abdomen, and a tube of a disk-shaped port is placed against the abdomen outside. After having a meal, about 20-30 minutes later, a tube is attached to an external device to remove the ingested food from the stomach. This bariatric procedure was approved by the FDA in 2016 for weight loss which can remove about 30% of the calories you consume.
Pros: For people who got AspireAssist implantation, on an average lost 12% of their total body weight compared to people who maintain a specific diet and exercise to lose weight. Some proven results show that patients lost half their excess weight in a year after AspireAssist implantation.
Cons: As patients gradually lose weight, the implanted tube and disk need to be adjusted. Also, necessary frequent consultation of a doctor to monitor the device and provide required changes. The drain tube needs to be replaced after using a certain number of times. Some complications, like indigestion, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhoea, might occur.
For more information, make an appoint and consult Dr. V. Pareek, one of the best bariatric surgeons in Hyderabad. He provides the best weight loss techniques, even for extremely obese people.
About the Doctor:
Dr Venugopal Pareek – Bariatric Surgeon
Dr Venugopal Pareek is one of the best Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgeon in the city has done more than 9000 surgeries in 12 years. Dr Pareek is an expert in performing Bariatric Surgeries. He has attended several conferences and published articles on medicine as well in various national and international journals.
