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What IS Bariatric Bypass Surgery?

By Josh Henry


Approximately over two third of all adults in the country are overweight but more interestingly third of them are obese. A majority of these people make efforts and seek ways and means of losing weight and as such bariatric bypass surgery is increasingly gaining popularity.

Perhaps the question going through your mind right now is what is the meaning of bariatric bypass surgery? How does bariatric bypass surgery work? If you have these two questions or indeed more questions regarding bariatric bypass surgery, then you can be assured that you are indeed in the right place. Bariatric surgery is a name derived from two Greek words; weight and treatment. As such in the simplest of definition the term bariatric is used to denote issues concerned with the causes, prevention as well as treatment of aspects related to overweight, a condition termed as obesity.

Bariatric bypass surgery is an amalgamation of a number of procedures performed for or on individuals desiring to lose some considerable amount of weight. The procedure is mainly performed to persons considered to be obese, and the idea here is to reduce the capacity of the stomach with an aim of ensuring that the patient feels comfortable and indeed full after consumption of little amounts of food. Subsequently bariatric procedures are indeed major gastrointestinal procedures meant to alter the anatomy and/or the capacity of the digestive system. In certain cases, a stomach portion is removed through what is known as the biliopancreatic diversion or sleeve gastrectomy with gastric bypass surgery and duodenal switch.

Bariatric bypass surgery is recommended for persons who have a body mass index of 35-40 and to individuals with such conditions as diabetes. For this particular case the bariatric bypass surgery is considered as a treatment and specifically so for obesity and is very distinct from other cosmetic surgery.

Bariatric bypass surgery statistics are revealing that the procedure is of late gaining popularity. For over a decade now the numbers of those seeking bariatric bypass surgeries is tremendously growing. For example in 2003 over 103, 200 patients underwent the surgery, with the number rising in 2005 to over 171,000. The number is expected to maintain an upward trend as more and more people become aware of the surgery and as obesity continues to affects most of the citizens in this country. The number of doctors offering the bariatric bypass surgery as well continued to rise and the number double between 2005 and 2006, in fact in 2006 around 1500 bariatric surgeons were registered by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

The most common bariatric bypass surgery is the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and accounted for 92% of all the bariatric procedures conducted in 2002. The procedure tightens and makes the stomach of the patient smaller and indeed makes the patient feel full pretty fast when eating. However, with all the benefits associated with the procedure, there still exist some risks more so associated with it. For instances studies have shown that about 10% of the patients may die after the surgery. Other risks include osteoporosis, anemia, pulmonary embolism, ulcers among.




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