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Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric surgery is surgery to assist severely obese patients
with weight loss. The most common minimal access surgical
procedure is laparoscopic roux-en-y gastric bypass. This is
a procedure that bypasses most of the stomach and leaves the
patient with a small pouch that restricts the amount of food
that the patient can eat. Additionally the procedure reduces
the absorptive capability of the small intestine by a modest
amount. The combination of these two factors leads to successful
significant weight loss in a majority of the patients. Recovery
after this surgery involves a few (2-4) days stay in the hospital
and two to three days off work. An alternative bariatric procedure
is to place an inflatable silicone band around the top of
the stomach to limit the amount of food that a person can
eat. This band can be placed laparoscopically, and results
in a very short recovery of a few days. The patient and surgeon
make the choice of which procedure to use for weight loss
together.
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