What is a gastric bypass?
Gastric bypass is a type of weight loss surgery that works by making your stomach smaller and removing part of your bowel to make your digestive system shorter. This means that you can only eat small meals and your body will take up fewer calories from the food you eat.
The gastric bypass operation is done under general anaesthesia. This means you will be asleep during the procedure. Depending on the surgical technique used, you will need to stay in hospital about three to five days.
Your surgeon will explain the benefits and risks of having a gastric bypass, and will also discuss the alternatives to the procedure.
About the operation
Your surgeon will use surgical staples to create a pouch from the upper part of the stomach. A section of your small intestine is then cut out, making it shorter. It is re-connected to the pouch so that food bypasses part of your digestive system and is absorbed less easily by the body.
The gastric bypass operation is done either as open or laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery and may take two to three hours.
- In open gastric bypass surgery, a single cut (about 30cm long) is made on your upper abdomen. The cut is closed using stitches and staples.
- In laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, about five small cuts (1-2cm long) are made on your abdomen and chest. Your surgeon will insert a tube-like telescopic camera into a cut, and view the area either by looking directly through this, or at pictures it sends to a video screen. The operation is done using specially designed surgical instruments. Afterwards, the skin cuts are closed with two or three stitches.
You will be given antibiotics during the operation to reduce the chance of getting an infection from the bacteria that are naturally present in your bowel.
For the first 24 hours after your operation you will only be allowed to drink clear fluids. After this your surgeon or dietitian may start you on a liquid diet. While you are unable to drink you will have a drip in your arm to keep you hydrated.
You will also need to make lifelong changes and follow a strict diet after the bypass operation. You will need to have liquidised or pureed food for the first few weeks, so that the new joins in your digestive system have chance to heal properly. Your dietitian or surgeon will give you more advice.
A gastric bypass is a major operation that changes the way the digestive system works. The operation carries an element of risk.
You may feel or be sick after eating, especially if you try to eat too much. If you eat sugary foods it can make you feel faint and sweaty. This is called “dumping” syndrome. You will usually need to take vitamin supplements due to the restricted diet, and your bowel absorbs less well than before surgery.
Some of the complications specific to a gastric bypass are listed here.
- Wound infection. Antibiotics are given during surgery to help prevent this.
- For up to six weeks after the operation, it is possible to develop a blood clot (DVT) in the veins in the leg. In most cases this is treatable, but it can be a life-threatening condition. Compression stockings, intermittent compression pumps and blood-thinning injections are used to help prevent DVT.
- During the operation other organs in the abdomen may be accidentally damaged. The points at which the intestine is re-joined could leak in the first few days. These complications are rare, but may need further surgery.
- There is a small risk of death during or soon after this operation.
- It is possible you may fail to lose sufficient weight or regain weight, and the operation may need to be repeated.
- If you lose weight rapidly, there is a risk of developing gallstones in your gallbladder. These can be painful. Your surgeon may remove your gallbladder during surgery.
The chance of complications depends on the exact type of operation you are having and other factors such as your general health. Ask your surgeon to explain how any risks apply to you.
The following Spire Healthcare private hospitals offer gastric bypass surgery:
Spire Cardiff Hospital, Cardiff
Spire Leeds Hospital, Leeds
Spire Leicester Hospital, Leicester
Spire Manchester Hospital, Manchester
Spire Norwich Hospital, Norwich
Spire Portsmouth Hospital, Portsmouth
Spire Roding Hospital, Redbridge
Spire Southampton Hospital, Southampton
Spire Little Aston Hospital, Sutton Coldfield
Spire Murrayfield Hospital, Wirral
To find out more about having a gastric bypass in a Spire Healthcare hospital, please call our weight loss enquiry team on 0800 434 6622.
