What is Gastric Bypass?

Gastric bypass surgery called Roux-en-Y is one of the most commonly used bypass surgeries and it is counted for 80% of weight loss surgeries in the United States has two parts:

Part one: Creating a Small Pouch in the Stomach

In this section, the surgeon divides the stomach into a large and a smaller part. Then, in a process called sewing the stomach, the small portion of the stomach is stitched or sewed in order to make a pouch which can only hold one cup of food. With such a bag, people quickly feel full and eat less.

Part Two: Bypass

The surgeon separates this small and new bag from the first small segment of the stomach (duodenum) and then connects it to the smaller part of the intestine (jejunum), which is slightly lower. This procedure is called Roux-en-Y. After doing this, the food goes straight from the stomach to the jejunum and passes through it. This limits the amount of calorie absorption and food intake. This way of weight loss is called Malabsorption.

Duration of Recovery and Possible Problems

After undergoing gastric bypass, people usually stay in the hospital for 2 to 3 days and return to normal within 2 to 3 weeks.

About 10% of them might have mild problems, including:

• Wound infection
• Digestive problems
• Injuries
• Bleeding

What happens after the surgery?

Weight loss after surgery is often high. On average, patients lose about 60% of their excess weight. Many weight-related health problems improve after the stomach bypass surgery. The most commons ones are diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and difficulty breathing during sleep.