WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY Treatment Options
Bariatric Surgery
Three Common Types of Procedures
Make informed decisions about your care. Take your time to learn about the various weight loss strategies.
- Restrictive techniques make your stomach smaller.
- Malabsorptive techniques decrease your ability to absorb nutrients from food.
The three common types of weight-loss procedures use one or both of these techniques.
- Sleeve gastrectomy is a restrictive procedure. The surgeon removes two-thirds of the stomach, which provides a quicker sense of fullness and decreased appetite.
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is both a restrictive and a malabsorptive procedure. The surgeon decreases the size of your stomach and causes food to go only through part of the small intestines.
- Adjustable gastric banding is a restrictive procedure. The surgeon places a band around the top of the stomach. This limits food intake, thus encouraging weight loss.
Keep in mind that any effective weight loss program should also include a combination of diet change, increased physical activity, and behavior therapy.
Sleeve Gastrectomy
Sleeve Gastrectomy
This procedure is a restrictive procedure that changes the shape and size of the stomach. The surgeon removes approximately two-thirds of the stomach; thus, the stomach is reshaped into a long tube, or “sleeve.” After the procedure, the stomach is about the size and shape of a banana and resembles a sleeve.
Why Choose Sleeve Gastrectomy
The procedure:
- restricts food intake by allowing only a small amount of food to be consumed in a single sitting, providing a quicker sense of fullness and decreased appetite
- does not require the surgeon to implant a foreign body such as the band used in gastric banding
- decreases the secretion of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for the feeling of satiety (fullness)
- initially decreases the body weight of the severely obese patient to prepare this patient for a staged procedure or other surgery at a later time
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.