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Understanding Gastric Surgery

Summary & Participants

Weight loss surgery can provide health benefits to those who qualify. How do you know which surgery is right for you? It's important to know the advantages and disadvantages associated with the different types of surgeries.

Medically Reviewed On: July 03, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Gastric bypass surgery is a combination of restrictive and malabsorptive techniques. A patient's stomach is stapled and a small pouch about the size of an egg is created. Then, a portion of the small intestine is bypassed. That portion of the small intestine is not involved in digestion and not involved in absorption.

JAIME PONCE, MD: The advantage of the gastric bypass is that it has a proven track record; it's been used in the United States for about 30 years. What it does, with the bypass, you lose the weight in about a year. You lose about 60 to 70 percent of your excess weight.

ANNOUNCER: As with any major surgery, complications can occur. Problems associated with bariatric surgery can range from minor to life threatening. Complications can occur during, immediately after, or within weeks or several months of surgery. Additional surgery, readmission to the hospital, medication, or nutritional supplements may be required in some situations. Surgeons can explain the risks unique to individual patients and unique to the type of weight loss operation they choose. One advantage of the adjustable gastric band is that it can be fine-tuned for each patient.

GEORGE WOODMAN, MD: One of the reasons that the band works is that it's tailored to meet an individual's weight loss needs.

FELIX SPIEGEL, MD: By adjusting it, we can prevent the patient from gaining their weight back, and we have clinical data and trials ten or more years after LAP-BAND® surgery showing that weight regain is minimal.

ANNOUNCER: Unlike gastric bypass patients, adjustable gastric band patients do not need to add supplements to their diet.

FELIX SPIEGEL, MD: Because there is no malabsorptive component, these patients don't need lifetime supplementation with specialized vitamins.

ANNOUNCER: Both the adjustable gastric band and the gastric bypass are effective surgeries. And although the average gastric bypass patient will lose weight more quickly, over the course of three to five years weight loss is very similar between the two procedures. So how do patients decide which procedure is right for them?

GEORGE WOODMAN, MD: Which procedure is right for which patient is really up to that particular patient. It's important for them to do their homework, whether that means getting a book, going to some seminars, talking to their medical doctor, talking to a surgeon, talking to their friends. They need to make an educated decision on their own. If they have questions, we're here for them. We can help answer specific questions. We can guide them in a certain direction, but we will not make that decision for them.

Surgery, regardless of which one you choose, is just a tool. It's just a procedure that's going to help a patient, significantly help them, to lose weight. It's not going to make them lose weight. It's not going to change their lifestyle for them, but it gives them a tool to help them to achieve their goals.

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