Sleeve Gastrectomy Bariatric Surgery Washington DC

Surgical procedures to help people who are very overweight or obese are very popular these days.  Approximately 200,000 total of the different varieties of bariatric surgery Washington DC are performed in the United States every year.  Patients considering this type of treatment for their weight issues will have to choose between the gastric lap band, a gastric bypass, and the sleeve gastrectomy.  This short article is intended to provide an introduction to the sleeve gastrectomy.

Bariatric Surgery DC:  Sleeve Gastrectomy

This operation physically removes most of the stomach.  Therefore, it is not reversible like lap banding.  After the largest portion of the stomach is removed, the remaining porting is formed into a tube shape that holds only a small amount of food.  This part of the stomach is attached to the very beginning of the small intestine, which is called the duodenum.  Because this surgery does not remove any of the small intestine, food is digested more normally, eliminating the side effect of "dumping syndrome" which sometimes occurs with gastric bypass surgery (because of the removal of the duodenum).

Bariatric surgery DC for the sleeve gastrectomy include many advantages.

• Because of the reduction in the size of the stomach, the patient feels full much sooner and is able to eat a much smaller quantity of food.  The reduction in the number of calories consumed leads to weight loss.
• The hormones that signal feelings of hunger and fullness are produced by the portion of the stomach that is removed.  In the absence of these hormones, the patient will not usually feel hungry.  They will naturally consume less food.
• The portion of the stomach that is removed also produces some of the hormones that control blood sugar.  As a result, this surgery sometimes helps in controlling type 2 diabetes.
• Most patients report a loss of half to three-quarters of their extra weight during the first year or two after surgery.  Such a drastic weight loss can greatly improve chronic health conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, and other cardiac conditions.