Roux En Y Bypass

What Is A Roux En Y Gastric Bypass Procedure?

The Roux en Y bypass procedure is the operation many people think of when they hear the words stomach surgery for weight loss.  The Roux en Y gastric bypass procedure is often the first choice of people who have decided to have stomach surgery for weight loss. Dr. Edward Mason and Dr Chikashi Ito developed Roux en Y bypass after observing that patients who had part of their stomach removed or were suffering from ulcers sometimes experienced significant weight loss.

The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure helps the patient accomplish weight loss through two different processes.

It limits the amount of food the patient wants to eat. Part of the stomach is removed, making the stomach smaller. As the volume of the stomach becomes smaller, the patient feels "full" sooner, after eating only a small portion of food.

The Roux en Y bypass also reduces the amount of food passing through the digestive system, thus reducing the number of calories absorbed by the body. A portion of the small intestine is divided in the Roux en Y, which reduces the size of the small intestine by 15-20 percent. Less food is therefore absorbed, along with fewer calories. The section of the small intestine that has been bypassed is then connected to the lower intestine. This allows food in the lower intestine to mix with important digestive juices as it passes through. 

Are there possible roux en y complications

Roux-en-Y surgery has some risks, but they're relatively low because the procedure has been done hundreds of thousands of times since it was developed more than 40 years ago. Most patients consider the risks acceptable because they know they can lose about 70 percent of their excess weight.

Today, more and more bariatric surgeons are performing Roux en Y surgery laparoscopically. In other words, they're using a tube-like surgical instrument with a tiny camera attached, inserted through small incisions in the abdomen. Laparoscopic surgery is much less invasive than the traditional, open form that involves cutting a large incision in the abdomen. 

Roux en Y Bypass Recovery

A patient can expect to stay in the hospital 2-3 days when a Roux en Y procedure is performed laparoscopically, and about 5 days if the procedure is done in the more traditional "open" way. Most patients return to normal activity in 3-5 weeks.
 
Approximately 150,000 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgeries are currently being performed in the United States annually.

Roux en Y has become so common that most insurance companies will authorize it almost routinely. This is not always true of other types of gastric bypass surgery.