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Types of Obesity Surgery
There are two main types of weight loss surgery also known as obesity surgery or baratric surgery. These are gastric banding surgery and gastric bypass surgery.
Gastric banding
Gastric banding, sometimes known as 'lap banding' is a highly effective weight loss surgery procedure to help overweight people achieve substantial and long-term weight loss.
The operation limits how much food you can eat. An inflatable band is placed around the stomach to divide it into two parts. This creates a smaller pouch at the top, which takes less food to make you feel full. The food then passes slowly through the opening left by the band into the lower part of your stomach and continues on as normal.
The gastric band can be inflated with saline solution to reduce the size of the opening into the lower part of the stomach. This will restrict the amount of food you can eat further, and make you feel fuller for longer.
The band is inserted laparoscopically, through four or five small incisions. This is sometimes referred to as keyhole surgery. Adjustments to the gastric band are made by injecting fluid through a very small tube which has a special button-like reservoir just under your skin. It can be inflated and deflated in this way, until the right level of restriction is established. It usually takes two adjustments to find the right level of restriction, but additional adjustments may be required. These will be carried out at your BMI hospital, and the first one is usually six weeks after lap band surgery.
Gastric bypass
A gastric bypass is also a highly effective weight loss surgery procedure. It helps very overweight patients to achieve substantial and permanent weight loss. It does this by restricting the amount you can eat, and by reducing the amount of calories absorbed from the food that you do eat. It is a more effective and less risky procedure than stomach stapling which used to be carried out.
The gastric bypass operation creates a small stomach pouch in the same way as the gastric band. But instead of the food passing into the stomach through the band, it bypasses the stomach and much of the intestine through a small intestine that has been rerouted and grafted onto the small stomach pouch.
The procedure can be carried out laparoscopically, by keyhole surgery, through five or six small incisions. It can also be carried out as an open operation with one vertical incision in the abdomen.
Your bariatric consultant will discuss all the options with you and establish which obesity operation is most suitable for you and your individual needs. The tables below show some key points for each type of operation:
* BMJ obesity surgery, Gastric banding, Jan 2006 ** Colquitt J, Clegg A, Sidhu M, Royle P. Surgery for morbid obesity. Oxford: The Cochrane Library 2004. No.3.
