Some Facts about Gastric Bypass

Today I wanted to share some facts and statistics about Gastric Bypass Surgery.

At EMMC in 2010 and 2011, operative mortality at 30 days after discharge for all procedures was 0%. The standard for safe bariatric programs is to have less than 0.5% 30-day operative mortality. 

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive & Kidney Disease (NIDDK), less than 1% of all cases of bariatric surgery result in death.

I thought this was an interesting quote from Al Roker

After gastric bypass surgery they make you go through therapy, but a realization that came to me after writing my book was that I should have gone to the support group they offered. As mentioned in my book, I knew I needed to make some very basic changes in my life ... for me.

I think the support groups will help me a lot.  I know they have already helped me in my decisions about surgery.

Bariatric Surgery Dramatically Improves Health.National data compiled from 136 scientific reports totaling bariatric surgical results of 22,094 patients¹showed that:

• 76.8% were cured of diabetes
• 86% improved diabetes
• 70% improved high cholesterol
• 61.7% were cured of high blood pressure
• 78.5% improved high blood pressure
• 85.7% were cured of sleep apnea

Better Survival Rate for Bariatric Surgery Patients. McGill University compared five-year survival of their 5,746 morbidly obese patients managed medically with 1,035 patients who underwent surgery, matched by sex, age, and duration of being obese.³The results:

• Five-year mortality of 6.17% in the no surgery group
• Five-year mortality of 0.68% in the surgical group

What is gastric bypass surgery, a lot of my friends have asked this question.

ROUX-EN-Y GASTRIC BYPASS

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery uses a combination of restriction and malabsorptionto reduce calories. During the procedure, which takes an average of 75 minutes to perform, the surgeon creates a smaller, egg-sized stomach pouch, using about 5 percent of your stomach and separating off the rest. The surgeon then attaches a Y-shaped section of the small intestine directly to the pouch. This allows food to bypass a large portion of the small intestine, which absorbs calories and nutrients. Having the smaller stomach causes patients to feel fuller sooner and eat less food. At the same time, bypassing a portion of the small intestine means the patient’s body absorbs fewer calories. Gastric bypass procedures are potentially reversible, although this is not usually performed.