Other Obesity Surgeries
Restrictive and gastric bypass surgery are safe and effective over the long-term.7 Other procedures for weight loss which are usually not recommended include the following:
- Intestinal Bypass - These operations involved reducing or bypassing parts of the small intestine, and were more common in past years. Some clinics have expertise in managing the typical complications of this surgery and continue to offer it as an option.7
- Jaw Wiring - This is a form of food intake restriction for temporary use in patients without respiratory problems. It can be effective for short-term weight loss. However, weight regain occurs soon after the wires are removed.7
- Liposuction - This is the most frequent cosmetic operation in the United States in which fat tissue is removed. Relatively small amounts of total body fat can be removed safely, however, and little weight is lost.7
General Benefits of Obesity Surgery
- Improvements in surgical techniques have resulted in considerable progress in safety, effectiveness and long-term integrity for promoting weight loss.2,3
- Within 30 days of surgery, 93.4% of patients from a national registry reported no complications from surgery.3
- Weight loss usually occurs soon after obesity surgery and continues for 18 months to two years. Most patients regain some weight after this time, however few regain it all. 3,8
- After five years, patients have reported maintaining a weight loss of 60% of excess weight.3
- Patients will often see improvements in obesity-related medical conditions that they had before surgery such as diabetes mellitus, glucose intolerance, high cholesterol/triglycerides, hypertension, and sleep apnea.3,4,8 In general, 60% of patients with obesity-related medical conditions are no longer on medication for these conditions three years after surgery.2
- Patients have reported an enhanced quality of life, improved mobility and stamina, better mood, self-esteem and interpersonal effectiveness, and lessened self-consciousness.3,7
General Risks of Obesity Surgery
- Complications caused by the surgery may be as high as 10 percent or more.4
- Complications requiring a hospital stay of seven or more days were reported in 1.35% of patients from the IBSR database. Some of the complications involve the heart or liver, rupture of blood vessels in the lungs, infection surrounding the diaphragm area, leaking and bleeding of the stomach and intestines, blood clotting of veins, and blockage of the small intestine.3
- Complications requiring a hospital stay of less than seven days were reported in 5.28% of patients from the IBSR database. These complications include breathing difficulties, wound infections, and injury to the spleen.3
- Ten to 20% of patients have been reported to need follow-up operations to correct complications such as abdominal hernias. 8
- Gallstones develop in more than one-third of patients as a result of losing a large amount of weight or from losing weight quickly.8 Gallstones can be prevented by taking medication.
- Anemia, osteoporosis and other bone disease are nutritional deficiencies that develop after the surgery due to long-term loss of absorptive function.2 Nutritional deficiencies, which occur in almost 30% of patients, can be prevented with proper attention to vitamin and mineral intake, especially vitamins B12 and D, calcium, folate and iron.2,7
- Women of childbearing age should be aware that quick weight loss and nutritional deficiencies can harm a developing fetus.8
- The VBG and RGB death rate is relatively low.4 Within 30 days of surgery, death occurred in less than a quarter of one percent (0.17%) of patients in the IBSR database. Pulmonary embolism was the most frequent cause of death.3
Learn About Laparascopic Bariatric Surgery
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