 Gastric bypass surgery is really the treatment of last resort for those who suffer from severe obesity. Gastrointestinal surgery is the probably the best option for those who have been unable to lose weight by the traditional methods of obesity treatment. People who can be considered for surgery are those who are severely obese (i.e. with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40) or people who are obese (with a BMI of between 35 and 40) who also have a significant disease (such as diabetes or high blood pressure) that could be improved if they lost weight.
Gastric surgery procedure
There are two forms of gastric surgery that may be offered to you by a surgeon:
Restrictive surgery
Restrictive surgery, or stomach stapling as it is also referred to, involves a reduction in the size of the stomach so that the patient feels full after eating just a small amount of food. The result is an immediate decrease in calorie intake and long term reduction in weight. The pouch created by the surgeon initially only holds about one ounce of food but later expands to 2-3 ounces. Around 30 percent of those patients who undergo VBG achieve normal weight, and about 80 percent achieve some degree of weight loss.
 Malabsorptive surgery
Malabsorptive surgery involves the shortening in length of the digestive tract to reduce the amount of food that the body can absorb. The two main types of Malabsorptive Surgery are Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RGB) and Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD).
Side effects of gastric surgery
All types of gastric surgery are major procedures and as such there is a risk factor involved. The surgery can cause side-effects, both at the time of the operation and in the long term. These include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, heartburn and vitamin deficiency. Studies have also shown that 10 to 20 percent of patients who have weight loss surgery require follow-up operations to correct complications.
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