Patients Had Fewer Complications and More Rapid Recovery
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 16 -- Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery is a safe and effective procedure for achieving significant weight loss in morbidly obese people, with a low rate of complications, a short hospital stay and rapid recovery, according to a study in the October issue of the Annals of Surgery.
The study, by Philip Schauer, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, co-director of the Mark Ravitch/Leon C. Hirsch Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery at UPMC Health System in Pittsburgh and director of bariatric surgery, evaluated the short-term outcomes of the procedure in 275 patients with a follow-up of one to 31 months.
"Open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is a highly successful and accepted approach to morbid obesity but results in significant post-operative complications," Dr. Schauer said. "This study found that the laparoscopic or minimally invasive approach has significant potential to reduce these complications and recovery times."
In minimally invasive surgery, surgeons make four or five small, half-inch-long incisions, rather than one large incision, to access the abdominal cavity. A tiny video camera and small instruments are inserted through the incisions and surgeons view the operation on a television monitor.
The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure involves constructing a small stomach pouch of approximately 15 millimeters (about the size of a plastic medicine cup), and bypassing a small segment of intestines by constructing a Y-shaped limb of small bowel. Patients lose weight because there is a decrease in caloric intake resulting from the reduced reservoir capacity of the small gastric pouch. This creates a sense of satiety when only a small quality of food is consumed. Furthermore, there is a decrease in absorption of some calories because some of the intestine is bypassed. Long-term weight loss is gene
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Contact: Frank Raczkiewicz
raczkiewiczfa@msx.upmc.edu
412-624-2607
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
15-Oct-2000