Gastric Bypass - The Advantages of Laparoscopic Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery is the most often undertaken operation for weight loss in the US with about 140,000 surgeries being conducted annually With a history dating back over 50 years, most surgeons have grown up with gastric bypass surgery and have developed an excellent understanding of its benefits and risks.

For many gastric bypass surgery is the last option when other forms of weight loss and dieting have been unsuccessful and where you are much overweight. This typically means that you have a body mass index (BMI) greater than 40, or greater than 35 with an accompanying condition which raises the risk of disability or premature death. Those conditions can include heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease and obstructive sleep apnea among others. More simply, this translates into being approximately 100 pounds above your ideal weight.

The rationale behind the gastric bypass procedure is simply to lower the effective size of the stomach and to bypass the larger part of the stomach, along with part of the intestine, constraining your ability to eat too much and also reducing the body's absorption of the food that is eaten.

In spite of the fact that open gastric bypass procedures are still commonly carried out a growing number of surgeons are adopting the laparoscopic approach and, while this takes considerable training and expertise on the surgeon's part, there are various advantages to this approach. Here are just some:

1. Patients suffer very much less post-operative pain and the small amount of pain that is experienced needs only mild painkillers such as codeine and tylenol.

2. As only a few small incisions are made with laprascopic surgery the time that it takes to heal following surgery is vastly reduced, together with the risk of infection and of a subsequent hernia.

3. This type of surgery permits you to go back to work in a comparatively short timescale, ordinarily as little as one week although it is recommended that patients do not go back to work for some two weeks for safety.

4. As laprascopic surgery is quicker than open surgery the patient spends less time in theatre and requires less anesthesia, bringing about fewer anesthesia-related complications.

5. Because patients are on their feet very quickly following surgery there is a lower risk of blood clots, pneumonia, bed sores and other complications typically associated with immobility.

6. This form of surgery permits greater precision since surgery is performed under magnification and the surgeon can observe details that are not visible during traditional open surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery produces a significant improvement in the quality of life for patients and also has the further benefit of improving, or in many cases of curing, hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, headache, heartburn and other disorders.

That the surgery can now be carried out so much more easily and can leave patients comparatively pain free and have them back on their feet fast means that more people are likely to opt for gastric bypass surgery and enjoy a happier and healthier lifestyle.