Surgical Treatment For Obesity

We have a team of specialists who handle your pre-operative care, surgery and post-operative support. This team includes:

Patient Counselors Insurance Benefit Specialists Bariatric Nurse Consultants Bariatric Surgeons Support Group Facilitators

Psychologists Dieticians Nutritional Consultant Physical Therapists Social Workers

Bariatric Surgery Is A Life-Saver For The Morbidly Obese

In the 1950s doctors introduced the first form of bariatric surgery. It bypassed the intestine to achieve weight loss but lead to many complications. Today, bariatric surgery concentrates on reducing the size of the stomach and is a much safer, more effective operation. The procedure dramatically changes the lives of the morbidly obese for whom no other weight loss method has worked. It promotes weight loss by reducing the stomach’s size, reducing the amount of food and calories eaten. Post-surgery patients will feel full after eating one to two ounces of food at any one time.

What is the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and How Does It Work??

The Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass was endorsed by the National Institutes of Health as an effective solution to permanent weight loss. This procedure requires no removal of the stomach. Reduction of stomach capacity is achieved by creating a smaller stomach pouch, with a two-to-three ounce capacity, by surgically stapling across the stomach. In order to ensure against staple line failure, the staple line is now done in sections and the cut ends are over-sewn. (Some variations performed involve creation of smaller pouches that require no staples.) A new hookup is surgically established to the lower intestine.

Digestive juices from the lower stomach and upper intestine (duodenum) continue to flow down the digestive tract and maintain normal digestion. Gastric Bypass reduces the size of the stomach significantly. Post-surgery patients feel full after eating one tenth the amount of food they previously consumed.

Unlike the earliest bariatric procedures, Gastric Bypass permits normal absorption of food, medicines and most vitamins. Compliance with dietary guidelines after surgery has a significant impact on the outcome and success of obesity surgery. Foods containing refined sugar and milk are not well tolerated and are limited or restricted. Surgeons prescribe vitamins and nutritional supplements to help assure that patients take in the nutrients they need.

The procedure itself typically takes between 90 minutes and two hours. After a hospital stay of three to four days, patients can usually return to work in four to six weeks, depending on their job.

What is VSG Bariatric Surgery and How Does it work?

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Laparoscopic Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is our newest surgical tool in the battle against obesity. Dr. H. Joseph Naim, a board certified Bariatric surgeon, has the training and the experience to perform the VSG. it is a non-reversible surgery done with five small incisions. It induces weight loss by laparoscopically removing 80% of the patient’s stomach so that the stomach is re-contoured into a narrow “sleeve”. Physically, the remaining stomach will hold no more than a 100-150 ml, or less than one cup of volume. With the actual stomach reduction it also reduces the production of Ghrelin, a hormone responsible for your sensation of hunger, increasing the chance of a sustained weight loss. Post-surgery patients follow a high protein, low calorie diet without the hunger pains that normally follow diet restriction.

This procedure, done laparoscopically and requiring no implants, avoids many of the earlier complications and concerns of surgery. There is less risk of infection, marginal ulcers and intestinal obstructions that have occurred with previous gastric bypass surgery techniques. Also, because the anatomy of the gastro-intestinal tract is not changed, it reduces the risks of post surgery malnutrition. (Malnutrition has been a common problem associated with intestinal surgery due to the body’s subsequent inability to process food intake and harvest needed vitamins and proteins.)

The surgery takes an hour to complete and requires only an overnight hospital stay. Patients can go back to work and resume normal activity after one week.

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What is the LAP-BAND^® System and How Does it Work?

The main feature of the LAP-BAND^® System is the use of an adjustable silicone elastomeric band. The surgeon places it around the upper portion of the stomach creating a smaller stomach pouch, reducing stomach capacity. The contents of this new stomach pouch slowly empties through an outlet into the lower, larger portion of the stomach. The size of the outlet can be adjusted. If the outlet is small, food will stay in the upper portion of the stomach longer, and the patient will feel full sooner and longer. As the patient’s needs change the band is adjusted.

Adjustments are done, often without additional surgery, by inflating or deflating a ring on the band’s inner surface. The size of the outlet is controlled by inflating, or deflating, the ring using a small reservoir placed under the skin. The surgeon uses a fine needle to insert liquid (saline solution) into the reservoir so that when liquid is added, the band inflates and constricts the stomach outlet. Removing liquid from the reservoir deflates the ring, which in turn loosens the band, and expands the outlet.

Surgeons can perform the LAP-BAND^® procedure laparoscopically, with small incisions, without the need for more invasive surgery. The procedure requires no staples and no cutting of the stomach and takes one to three hours. It allows band adjustments during the patient’s progress toward their weight loss goals. It requires only a one to three day hospital stay and patients typically return to work within two weeks, depending on their job.