Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y
This procedure is the most commonly performed bariatric surgery in the nation today. The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure involves making several small incisions through which the surgeon inserts laparoscopic instruments to perform the surgery.
The procedure is designed to make a small reservoir (pouch) for food at the upper end of your stomach with a capacity of about 1/2 oz. This pouch is connected to the upper small intestine by a new small anastomosis (outlet) of about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm) in diameter. The ingested food thereby bypasses the majority of your stomach, which remains alive and undisturbed, but functional otherwise. In other words, the majority of your stomach does not have food passing through. It often is associated with a permanent decrease in appetite.
The nature and purpose of this operation is to functionally limit the amount of food intake at any given time. There is a small component of malabsorption, at least initially. This procedure is often associated with fairly rapid weight loss initially, which stabilizes over time to a weight that is healthy for you.
