Stomach reduction – Surgical measures against obesity
Surgical measures against obesity – stomach reduction
Anyone who suffers from morbid obesity does not just have an aesthetic problem with the excess pounds. It is well known that severe obesity at a young age reinforces the development of serious diseases such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia.
Those affected fail in countless attempts to get the pounds under control with diets and exercise, which drives them to the brink of despair. For many patients, surgery is then the last resort and a stomach reduction procedure is considered.
Extreme overweight: Is a permanent reduction possible?
Stomach reduction – surgical measures. Surgical procedures are considered an effective alternative to conservative weight loss methods. A gastric band or gastric bypass operation results in a weight reduction of at least 50% in almost all patients.
These successes are not only achieved in the long term, they also lead to faster healing of the accompanying diseases. Of course, some of those annoying pounds can also be combated with exercise and diets, but usually only for a short period of time. Not infrequently, the well-known yo-yo effect ensures that those affected are even heavier at the end than at the beginning of a dietary measure.
Especially in the case of severely obese patients with a BMI of 35 or more, conservative methods such as nutritional therapies or behavioral therapies rarely bring any significant success. As a rule, such measures can achieve a weight reduction of around 10 percent at most.
However, if the patient is struggling with a weight of 180 kilograms and more, these 10 percent are not really much.
Stomach reduction – Small interventions with a big effect
So far, two different methods have been practiced in this country. In gastric bypass surgery, the stomach is divided into a forestomach and a larger rest of the stomach with a stapled suture. A so-called small intestine loop is clamped to the forestomach. This practically bypasses the duodenum and the rest of the stomach. This shortening of the distance that has to be covered in digestion automatically means that fewer nutrients are absorbed, which means that the calorie intake is slowed down and the body falls back on the fat reserves.
Stomach reduction – surgical measures – gastric band
The gastric band is another effective method. This procedure can be used extremely gently, because no major abdominal surgery is required, only a small abdominal incision for the instruments. The doctor places a silicone band around the stomach like a belt, which also creates a small forestomach. This can only hold 20 to 30 ml instead of 2 liters.
After the procedure, even the smallest amounts of food are sufficient for the patient to feel full. Eating less, but more often. The gastric band is connected via a tube to a reservoir under the abdominal wall, which can be easily reached through the skin with a syringe. In this way, liquid can get into a flexible cuff on the inside of the band, which means that the remaining stomach can be made larger or smaller without another surgical intervention being necessary.
Read more: Stomach Reduction – Bariatric Surgery
Health benefits in the long term
Stomach reduction – surgical measures. To date, only a few obese patients in Germany have been treated surgically. This is not least due to the fact that morbid obesity is not recognized as a sufficient illness, so that the health insurance companies only pay for the costs in special individual cases. Serious comorbidities can be significantly improved by these measures. In order to compensate for the nutrients that the patient’s body cannot absorb to the required extent, it is essential to take dietary supplements after the procedure.
