Gastric Bypass (Roux-En-Y)

Gastric Bypass surgery is used to help obese and severely  obese patients permanently lose significant amounts of weight. *

The procedure, known as the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, greatly reduces the size of the stomach, thereby reducing food intake. According to the medical journal Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, the mean percentage excess weight loss (%EWL) was 58.9% at 10+ years (January 2016) for patients who had this procedure.

Your Procedure

According to Arif Ahmad, MD, Director of the Mather Hospital Center of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery™ (COEMBS™), the procedure uses suture-like staples to create a pouch in the top of the stomach. That pouch is then connected directly to a section of the stomach called the Roux limb.

The smaller stomach pouch restricts the amount of food that can be digested at any time and limits the body’s ability to absorb fat from food by bypassing the majority of the stomach and some of the small intestine.

This combination of restrictive and mal-absorptive techniques makes the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure one of the most successful  bariatric surgeries.

After Your Gastric Bypass Surgery

After Gastric Bypass surgery, the stomach can hold about an ounce of food.

The stomach size is substantially reduced, and as a result patients are limited in the amount of food they can eat in a single meal.

Your Risks

As with any surgery, there are inherent potential risks such as blood clots, bleeding, and infection or damage to adjacent organs.

One risk of Gastric Bypass surgery is vitamin and mineral deficiency and anemia. In order to address this, you will have regular visits with your surgeon and a dietitian before and after surgery to establish a diet and exercise plan and to determine the necessary vitamin supplements.

Poor compliance with the post-surgical program prescribed by your surgeon and the COEMBS team can result in inadequate weight loss or weight regain with any bariatric procedure.

* Weight loss results may vary. All surgeries present risks.