What Is Gastric Bypass Surgery?
Gastric bypass surgery is a procedure that is reserved for obese patients that is aimed to significantly reduce weight when all other supervised weight loss attempts have failed. The surgery effectively reduces the body’s natural intake of calories by physically reducing the amount of space available to store food therefore reducing caloric intake.
This happens in a couple of ways, as mentioned your stomach is actually smaller along with a satiated effect that is felt by the patient due to achieving fullness before they are used to feeling full after normal feeling. This is a psychological effect as well as a physical one.
As discussed the surgery is only right for a select few who pass the evaluation process that every gastric bypass patient is required to go through. After successfully completing the evaluation the next step is the actual surgical procedure that makes the stomach smaller. The gastric bypass surgeon makes the stomach smaller by dividing the upper section and the bottom section using staples. The top section is the only section that will be used to hold food.
After the division of the stomach the gastric bypass surgeon connects the small intestine to the upper portion of the stomach to allow proper travel. The food now travels from this top “pouch” through the new connection bypassing the lower part of the stomach and on to the rest of the small intestine.
This is the basis for a gastric bypass operation.
