Stomach Surgery 

Stomach Surgery For Weight Loss, Cancer, Acid Reflux 

Stomach surgery has various goals depending the reason the surgery is taking place. The goal of this section of our website is to explain the facts about stomach surgery and the most common procedures in easy-to-understand non-medical language. This information about stomach surgery will be basic and introductory. It is not intended for medical professionals.

When most people hear the words stomach surgery these days, they think of stomach surgery for weight loss - the type that's designed to help a morbidly obese person lose weight. But there are other kinds too, including surgery for stomach cancer and for acid reflux disease.

We'll take a brief look at the major categories of stomach surgery in this article. Other articles on this website will cover the categories, along with specific procedures, in more detail.

Stomach surgery for weight loss

Stomach surgery for weight loss has become a solution for morbidly obese people whose health is in danger as a result of their obesity. It may be the only real option open to them after they've tried other standard, non-surgical methods without success. Stomach surgery for weight loss is also known as bariatric surgery, and it's generally only used for patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above.

Stomach surgery for weight loss is done on the stomach itself, but the words "stomach surgery" are also widely used to describe procedures that are performed on the small intestine or large intestine. These organs are surgically altered in some way to make it easier for the obese person to lose weight permanently. Stomach surgery for weight loss alters the size of the stomach, making it smaller. Obviously, a person will feel full after eating a smaller quantity of food and begin losing weight. This type of surgery is termed ‘restrictive surgery’ because it restricts the intake of food that a person consumes.

Stomach surgery for weight loss procedures fall into three categories.

Restrictive techniques: reduces the size of the stomach so the patient eats less, and gets "full" sooner.

Malabsorptive techniques: restricts the amount of the intestine that comes in contact with food. This way, the body absorbs less food that can be turned into fat.

Combination techniques may involve both the stomach and the intestines, combining both the restrictive and malabsorptive strategies.

The most common types of obesity stomach surgery are Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, Gastric Banding and Laparoscopic Gastric Banding. These procedures are covered more thoroughly elsewhere on this website.

The success rate for stomach surgery for weight loss is around 80 percent. In other words, only about one patient in five won't experience the desired results. Failures usually occur because the patient doesn't follow a recommended post operative program of diet changes, exercises, and lifestyle modification. We have a number of articles on gastric bypass surgery, gastric band surgery and stomach stapling.

Stomach surgery for cancer

Surgery to treat stomach cancer depends on where the cancerous tumor is located in the stomach.

Partial gastrectomy This procedure is done when cancer is present at the end of the stomach where it connects to the duodenum (the beginning of the small intestine). Only part of the stomach is removed.

Total gastrectomy. The entire stomach is removed, and the esophagus is connected directly to the small bowel.  This procedure is also known as roux en y surgery.

Esophagogastrectomy In this procedure, part of the esophagus and part of the stomach are removed. The remaining parts are joined.

Stomach surgery for acid reflux

The standard procedure for patients with severe acid reflux disease (also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD), is the Nissen fundoplication.

Nissen's fundoplication is performed by wrapping stomach tissue around the valve at between the esophagus and the stomach. When this junction is tightened, it prevents stomach acid from flowing back up into the esophagus.

Doctors sometimes choose Nissen fundoplication over the longtime use of medication.

While all types of stomach surgery are becoming safer, and bariatric stomach surgery is even becoming somewhat popular, all surgery has its risks. In addition, not all types of stomach surgery are appropriate for all patients.