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Gastric Bypass
Gastric bypass surgery is used to treat severe or morbid obesity, and is often the last option when regular diet and exercise have failed to take off dangerous amounts of excess weight. A basic gastric bypass procedure involves the creation of a small pouch in the upper part of the stomach, usually about the size of a thumb. The rest of the stomach is bypassed. This restricts the amount of food that a person can eat, as their stomach is essentially reduced by about 90%. A person still feels full after eating a meal, however they will consume much smaller amounts of food. This procedure in essence gives people no choice but to lose weight, as their body will simply not accept large amounts of food.
Fast Facts
- About 200,000 gastric bypass surgeries were performed in the United States in 2008.
- A estimated 2% of patients die within a month of gastric bypass surgery.
