What are the different types of surgery done for obesity?
The R-N-Y Gastric Bypass surgery (the procedure most often done for weight loss) reduces the size of the stomach to a thumbsized pouch, thus limiting the amount of food the individual can consume at one sitting. It also bypasses a section of small intestine where a lot of digestion of fats, sugars and vitamins takes place. Thus, some of the food eaten must pass through the small intestine, unable to be absorbed because it’s not digested. The unused portion of the stomach and intestine are reconnected to the small intestine to prevent the infections often seen in the older intestinal bypasses. The “Y” shape formed is where the surgery got its name. How much intestine in bypassed depends on the procedure. In a proximal gastric bypass, only about 10 inches of small intestine are bypassed. In a distal gastric bypass, as much as 10 feet of small intestine can be bypassed but most surgeons bypass from 2-5 feet. (There are several variations for example, the Fobi pouch leaves the unused porti
