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Surgeons first began to recognize the potential for surgical
weight loss while performing operations that required the removal
of large segments of a patient's stomach and intestine. After
these surgeries, doctors noticed that many patients were unable
to maintain their pre-surgical weight.
Today, the American Society for Bariatric Surgery describes two
basic approaches that weight loss surgery takes to achieve change.
These are:
1) Restrictive procedures: These reduce the amount of food
that can be consumed at one time without interfering with the
normal absorption (digestion) of food.
2) Malabsorptive procedures: These alter digestion, causing
the food to be incompletely absorbed so that it is eliminated
in the stool. These techniques involve a surgical bypass of
the small intestine, limiting the absorption of calories.
A third category has evolved that combines restrictive and malabsorptive
procedures, the most famous of these being the Roux-en-Y gastric
bypass.
Although malabsorptive procedures may result in a greater increase
of excess weight loss, the risk of medical complications generally
increase with surgical bypass.
For your information, click on the procedure listed below for
a diagram of how each procedure works.
Realize that weight loss surgery is major surgery. It is important
to remember there are no ironclad guarantees in any kind of medicine
or surgery.
Other Surgical Treatment for Morbid Obesity
- Gastric restriction operations
- Malabsorptive procedures
- Combined restrictive and malabsorptive
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Stomach banding,
also known as gastric banding, gastric segmentation and non-adjustable
banding, is the surgical option of choice in the Spring Branch
Medical Center (SBMC) Bariatric Surgery Program.
Stomach banding
was first introduced in 1978. Dr. Marcel Molina, a member of
the SBMC medical staff, performed 6,500 such surgeries beginning
in 1980 until his death a few years ago. Dr. Horacio Oria, who
assisted Dr. Molina in his surgeries, continues to perform the
procedure at SBMC. To date, more than 7,500 stomach banding
procedures have occurred at SBMC.
This is a minimally
invasive procedure which does not significantly alter the anatomy
or function of the digestive system. Compared to the gastric
bypass, the risks of mineral and vitamin deficiencies, bone
disease and other long-term side effects are rare.
For more information
about how stomach banding works, click
here.
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