Sunday 31 July 2016

Important Information On Gastric Sleeve Surgery Houston Patients Need To Have

By Jessica Wood


Losing excess weight is by no means an easy undertaking. Bariatric surgeries have now been adopted widely as an option for weight loss. There are several types of these operations that exist. They include gastric banding, bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Each of them is associated with a number of advantages and disadvantages. If they have intentions of undergoing gastric sleeve surgery Houston residents need to be aware of a number of things in mind.

Sleeve gastrectomy may be used on its own or as part of the bypass procedure. The procedure itself involves the removal of a significant part of the stomach. The organ is first split along its length, the unwanted part removed and the remainder repaired using stitches or staples. Generally, the part that is removed is between 75% and 80% leaving behind a small tubular structure that can hold a limited amount of food.

The objective of performing this operation is to reduce the amount of food that an individual can consume in one sitting. With the small stomach size, there is faster filling and hence early satiety. The removal of a large section also means that the amount of gastric hormones that are released from the stomach lining will be markedly reduced. Appetite is thus reduced and the levels of glucose in the blood maintained within fairly normal ranges.

Outcomes of this surgery are satisfactory for the most part. It has been shown that as much as 50% of weight can be lost within 6 months to one year. This is almost the same as what would be seen after bypass surgery. The advantage is that the unwanted effects of bypass are not experienced. Other advantages include the fact that nerves supplying the stomach are spared and so is the valve mechanism at the lower end.

There are two main techniques that are employed: the open technique and the laparoscopic surgical option. The use of laparoscopy is by far, the more preferred options due to its many advantages over the open technique. One of these advantages is the fact that smaller incisions are used hence the resultant pain is a lot less. There is a lower risk for infection and patients generally have a quicker recovery.

A typical candidate is an individual who has excess weight and has been unable to manage it using lifestyle options. They should have a body mass index of not less than 40 but lower values are acceptable if the person already suffers from obesity related complications such as sleep apnea, high blood pressure and diabetes. Another important consideration is that major risks to the operation should not exist.

There are a number of risks to this operation that exist. The more general risks include, the likelihood of excessive bleeding, injury to internal organs and infections. The more specific complications may include, for instance, leakage of food through the surgical incision on the stomach, esophageal spasms and stomach dilatation in the long term. Unlike gastric banding, the sleeve procedure is permanent and cannot be reversed if complications are encountered.

If you are considering bariatric surgery as a weight loss option, there several options that you can choose from. These include gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and banding. Surgeon preference and the magnitude of your problem are some of the factors likely to influence your decision. The gastrectomy procedure is quite effective but has huge disadvantage in that it cannot be reversed.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment