Gastric Bypass Surgery Pros And Cons For Obese Patients
After a 4-year study, surgeons in Switzerland have decided which is better in gastric bypass surgery techniques. So is it the proximal technique or the distal technique?
No deaths were reported with either technique among the 50 morbidly obese participants.
But there were some complications and some patients had to undergo more operations during the 4 years after the initial surgery.
According to the British Journal of Surgery, with both techniques, obese patients lost as much as 31% of their body mass index (BMI) after 4 years. The number of cases of high blood pressure decreased by over 75%, diabetes by 90%, and abnormal concentrations of lipids or lipoproteins in the blood by over 75%.
The difference between the 2 techniques comes down to the length of the “alimentary limb.” That’s an upper portion of the small intestine through which food passes.
The alimentary limb was 150cm in proximal surgery patients and 200cm to 400cm in distal surgery patients.
Here are some of the different outcomes of the 2 techniques…
1. During the 4 years after surgery, 11 proximal patients and 16 distal patients had complications. Of those, 4 proximal and 8 distal patients had to undergo surgery again.
2. Eight patients in each group had complications in the first 30 days after surgery. Half of them were wound infections. Three had to be operated on again.
3. There were 13 late complications 4 years after surgery, including 7 internal hernias. There was also 1 case of severe malnutrition in a distal patient.
4. The average time in surgery was much longer for distal patients (242 minutes) vs. proximal patients (170 minutes). Distal patients also stayed in the hospital one day longer.
The doctors were especially concerned with the one case of severe protein malnutrition because that can cause a lot of complications after surgery.
So they operated again to change the distal to a proximal bypass.
After looking at the results, the doctors now consider proximal gastric bypass surgery to be the preferred technique in morbidly obese patients.
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