Gastric Band Surgery

English: Courtesy of Ethicon Endosurgery, Inc., used with permission? Author: Ethicon Endosurgery, Inc. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In principle, a diet long term post gastric band surgery should consist of normal healthy food, that is solid in nature and requires ample chewing to achieve a paste consistency prior to swallowing. This texture will maximize the effect of the band, rather than choosing easier wet foods, such as soups, casseroles and smoothies, which pass through the band quickly and easily resulting in greater caloric intake.

Gastric Band Surgery Effects

When the patient ingests just a small amount of food, the first response is a stretching of the wall of the stomach pouch, stimulating nerves which tell the brain that the stomach is full. The patient feels a sensation of fullness, as if they had just eaten a large meal—but with just a thumb-full of food. Most people do not stop eating simply in response to a feeling of fullness, but the patient rapidly learns that subsequent bites must be eaten very slowly and carefully, to avoid increasing discomfort or vomiting.

There are chances that after one year the patient may start to slowly gain all the weight which is lost. This shows that the patients are taking in more calories and carbohydrates than allowed and is not compensating it with required exercise. Therefore it will be better for them if they could stick with the gastric sleeve diet after undergoing a gastric band surgery. The primary thing to remember in a sleeve diet is the consumption of the right amount of water that is needed by your body. It is required that the patients who have undergone gastric sleeve procedure should be drinking a minimum of 2 quarts of water in a day.

The vertical gastrectomy in gastric band sleeve (also known as gastric sleeve or gastrectomy in sleeve) operations is a relatively new procedure that produces weight reduction by diminishing the amount of food that can be eaten in one sitting. In a gastric sleeve operation, approximately 80% of the stomach is removed, thereby considerably reducing the capacity to store food. In other words, this is a type of restrictive obesity surgery.

Over 208,000 consumers opted for bariatric surgery in 2008 and the numbers continue to rise. Physicians are calling obesity a disease so the patients feel as they have no alternative but surgery to fix their “disease”. Could the disease be inactivity? Overeating? Why wasn’t this “disease” present years ago? Consumers love to feel like they have no control over their situation and therefore no blame nor responsibility can lie with them. At least there is some good news with these types of surgeries. The morbidity rate is only about.2 percent. So as long as you’re not the 2 out of the 1000 which die during the procedure your odds are pretty good you will lose some weight. Keeping the weight off is the real test in post surgical patients.

Today sleeve gastrectomy is the fastest growing weight loss surgery option in North America and Asia. In many cases, but not all, sleeve gastrectomy is as effective as gastric bypass surgery, including weight independent benefits on glucose homeostasis. The precise mechanism(s) that produce these benefits is not known.

A gastrostomy can be placed to decompress the stomach contents in a patient with a malignant bowel obstruction. This is referred to as a “venting PEG” and is placed to prevent and manage nausea and vomiting.

There are clinical standards used as benchmarks for determining who may qualify for weight loss surgery. Researchers and surgeons use a measurement called the body mass index (BMI) to determine basic eligibility. The BMI is a relationship between weight and height associated with body fat and health risks that estimates the degree to which someone is over or underweight. An index of 40 or over is considered morbidly obese and may qualify a candidate for surgery. Some candidates who have a lower BMI with comorbidities, the presence of one or more disorders in addition to a primary disorder, may also qualify for surgery. Some examples of comorbid conditions associated with obesity include type 2 diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnea. A super-obese condition with a BMI over 55 may require weight loss before undergoing weight loss surgery. The severity of the health factors leading one into a high risk status may also disqualify that person for gastric band surgery until the risks are reduced.

Laparoscopic surgery is performed using several small incisions, or ports: one to insert a surgical telescope connected to a video camera, and others to permit access of specialized operating instruments. The surgeon views his operation on a video screen. Laparoscopy is also called limited access surgery, reflecting the limitation on handling and feeling tissues and also the limited resolution and two-dimensionality of the video image. With experience, a skilled laparoscopic surgeon can perform most procedures as expeditiously as with an open incision—with the option of using an incision should the need arise.