Gastric Bypass Surgery

In this procedure, the stomach is stapled to form a pouch similar in the lap band procedure. A part of the intestinal tract will be attached to the pouch. Some sections of the intestines and the stomach will be bypassed. These bypassed sections will no longer be processing the ingested food. The patient will feel full much faster than he or she would before undergoing the procedure. This means the patient will also absorb fewer calories.

Gastric Lap Band Surgery

What this procedure fundamentally does is place a silicone band that acts as a girdle on the stomach. This band is inflatable and will shrink the size of the stomach which in turn will reduce the capacity to store food. This is in effect puts the person on an involuntary diet because not much food could be ingested at a time. The small pouch holding the ingested food could only contain 30ml of substance.

This procedure is just as invasive as the gastric bypass surgery but it is done with the use of a laparascopic techniques. There will be no stapling or blocking off of sections of the digestive tract. The same feeling of satiation could be achieved without resorting to permanently changing the route of the ingested food.

What the procedure does, however, is slow down the digestion of the food. The band is adjustable through the use of injected fluids such as saline solution that would be deposited under the skin. The patient would give his or her feedback to the doctor on the level of comfort and discomfort varying amounts of the solution would have. These are part of the adjustments that would be made to their bands.

Other notable differences are in the recovery period. Patients of gastric bypass surgery will need to be confined in the hospital for two to three days Gastric Band Operation. The lap band surgery patient can return home within the same day of undergoing the procedure. The recovery time for lap band patients is shorter and the weight loss experience also varies.