The collective term for weight-loss surgeries including gastric bypass is bariatric surgery. It makes you lose weight by making changes to your digestive system. When you don’t get benefits from diet and exercise, you need to undergo bariatric surgery. It is also effective if you have serious health problems due to overweight. Some procedures lessen the body’s ability to absorb nutrients whereas others make you eat less.

Reasons for Bariatric Surgery

You can lose excess weight by bariatric surgery. It also helps to get rid of life-threatening health problems that develop due to weight. These include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease and stroke
  • Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Sleep apnea
  • Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Preparations

Your health care team will advise you on what preparations you have to take if are an eligible candidate for bariatric surgery. There will be different diagnostic tests before the surgery. There will be restrictions on what you eat and drink. You may also have to stop some medicines for the time being. If you need anyone to help you in your daily work after the surgery, you have to make arrangement for that at this time.

There are two methods in which bariatric surgery is done. They are the open method and the laparoscopic method. The majority of bariatric surgeries are now done in the laparoscopic method as it has many benefits.

Types

The following are a few types of bariatric surgery:

  • Sleeve gastrectomy:

    A bariatric surgeon in Kolkata removes almost 80% of your stomach and leaves behind a long, tubular pouch in this procedure. The amount of food that this part is able to store is very small. There is also less production of the hormone ghrelin after this procedure. As a result, a person has less desire to eat as this hormone regulates your appetite.

  • Roux-en-Y gastric bypass:

    The aim of this procedure is to decrease your consumption of food. The surgeon seals the top of your stomach off from the rest part after making a cut through it. This creates a pouch in that place. After that, he/she sews part of the small intestine directly with the pouch of the stomach after cutting the small intestine.

  • Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch:

    There are two parts in this surgery. In the first part, the procedure a surgeon performs is similar to that of sleeve gastrectomy. After this procedure, the surgeon connects the end part of the intestine to the duodenum that is present in the stomach. There are limitations on both the amount you eat and the nutrients your body absorbs as a result of this surgery.

After the bariatric surgery, you have to follow specific instructions about your diet. You will also have to go for frequent checkups.

Dr. Siddhartha Bhattacharya is a highly experienced bariatric surgeon. You will get the best results from bariatric surgery if you consult him for this procedure.