Types of Weight Loss Surgery

]Weight loss surgery is a safe and effective way to reduce a significant amount of body weight to improve overall health and help restore a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

Board certified surgeon and fellowship trained bariatric surgeon Dr. Wiljon Beltre provides weight loss surgery to patients in Orlando, Tampa, Maitland, Central Florida, and surrounding locations.

Surgery Options

There are seven major types of weight loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery) available today. These include:

• Gastric Sleeve: helps the patient feel less hungry and full earlier when eating
• Gastric Bypass: helps the patient feel full earlier when eating and enables the absorption fewer minerals
• Duodenal Switch: helps the patient feel less hungry and full sooner when eating, absorb lesser calories and minerals
• LAP-BAND:  helps the patient feel full earlier when eating
• Gastric Balloon:  the patient temporarily feels full earlier when eating (balloon is taken out after six months)
• vBloc Therapy: helps feel full between meals and less hungry when eating
• AspireAssist: drains a part of the stomach’s contents post eating.

Role of Different Types of Weight Loss Procedures

Proven forms of bariatric surgery play a unique role as follows:

Restrictive surgeries decrease the quantity of food that the stomach can contain. This enables the patient to feel full much earlier after eating than they did prior to the procedure. Some of the key restrictive procedures for weight loss include:

• Gastric sleeve
• Adjustable gastric banding (for instance, LAP-BAND surgery)
• Intragastric balloon (gastric balloon)

Malabsorptive surgeries rearrange and/or eliminate a portion of the digestive system. This restricts the quantity of minerals, calories, and/or fat-soluble vitamins that the body can absorb. Treatments comprising a significant malabsorptive element lead to the most weight loss. However, the rate of complications may be higher in such procedures. Malabsorptive surgeries include the following:

• Gastric bypass: mineral malabsorptive, not calorie malabsorptive
• Duodenal switch: mineral, calorie, and fat-soluble vitamin malabsorptive
• Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery (MGBP)

Vagal Nerve Blocking utilizes controlled electrical stimulation to block hunger signals that the stomach transmits to the brain. vBloc Therapy is the only FDA-approved device.  

Aspiration utilizes gravity to empty a part of the contents of the stomach contents through a system that is akin to a feeding tube. This does not allow the food to be digested completely, enabling weight loss. AspireAssist is the only FDA-approved device.

Qualifying for a Specific Surgery

To be eligible for any weight loss surgical procedure, the candidate’s body mass index (BMI) must be within a specific range.

The procedures mentioned below have a limited acceptable range:

• Gastric balloon: Accepts BMIs from 30 to 40
• vBloc Therapy: Accepts BMIs from 35 to 45
• AspireAssist: Accepts BMIs from 35 to 55

The remaining procedures (gastric bypass, duodenal switch, gastric sleeve and gastric banding) have a similar eligibility criteria:

• Body mass index 40 or over or
• Body mass index from 35 to 40 conditional to the patient suffering from severe obesity-related medical conditions (“comorbidity”) such as hypertension, diabetes, joint problems, asthma sleep apnea, or another condition among many others.
• Body mass index from 30 to 35 may be eligible is other specific health concerns are present.

Surgery for Maximum Weight Loss

The duodenal switch (DS) is deserving of more focus that it has received because it is a leader regarding improvement in health. The DS surgery is even recommended for non-morbidly obese patients to address diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Experienced bariatric surgeon Dr. Wiljon Beltre receives patients from Orlando, Tampa, Maitland, Central Florida, and neighboring areas for weight loss procedures.

Important Note: If the weight is regained, diabetes and other conditions could return.

To find out more about the procedures & treatments performed by Orlando Bariatric Surgeon, Dr. Wiljon Beltre, at The Center for Metabolic and Obesity Surgery Call 321-499-6505 or Click Here to Schedule a Consultation.