Gastric bypass is a surgery that helps a person lose weight by changing how the stomach and small intestine handle the food a patient eats. The food a patient eat will no longer go into some parts of the stomach and small intestine that absorb food. Because of this, the body will not get all of the calories from the food we eat.

Suitable Candidates for Gastric Bypass Surgery

• If you have a BMI higher than 35

• If you are suffering from other complications like diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, etc.

• In case your weight is increasing steadily causing other metabolic disorders

• If you are gaining weight even after restrictive diet

Medical Tests / Diagnosis for Gastric Bypass Surgery

Tests required before undergoing a Gastric Bypass Surgery are:

• A complete Blood Count

• Urinalysis and a Chemistry Panel

• Chest X-Ray and Electrocardiogram

Some Surgeons may also ask you to get the following tests on the basis of your medical history:

• Gallbladder Ultrasound to look for gallstones

• Pulmonary Function Test

• Echocardiogram

• GI Evaluation

• Cardiology Evaluation

• Psychiatric Evaluation

• Sleep Studies

Gastric Bypass Surgery Procedure

Gastric Bypass is one of the effective bariatric procedures for weight loss. It has a very high success rate and the patients have been able to lose up to 70% of their excess weight and maintain it for a period of ten years or longer without significant increase in the weight. It does not put added restriction on the food choices and diet plan.

Procedure:

• The patient is put under general anesthesia.
• For laparoscopic surgery only 5-6 small incisions will be made and in case of open surgery the doctor will make a surgical cut to open your stomach.
• Gastric Bypass surgery can be broadly divided into two parts.
• First, the surgeon will divide your stomach into two parts.
• The larger part of your stomach will be stapled out and only a small portion of the stomach in form of a pouch will be left for use.
• The pouch is usually kept very small so that the patients can only consume very small quantities of food and hence the calorie intake reduces considerably.
• Losing weight through this method becomes easier for the patients as they will start feeling fuller even after eating small portions of food. The urge to eat will also go down significantly.
• The second part of the procedure is bypassing where the surgeon will divide the lower part of the small intestine and join it with a hole made in the pouch.
• Now the food will go directly to this intestine.
• It will create a Y section of your small intestine and the food will not pass through the complete digestive system resulting in lower consumption of calories making weight loss faster. 
• The deficiency of nutrients, vitamins and other minerals is later on supplemented by added intake and hence you can lead a healthy life and lose weight rapidly.
• Being a ‘malabsorptive’ procedure it decreases the patient's craving for food and the patient’s body will also not be able to absorb all the calories from the food adding up to the weight making the procedure a great success.
• The patients are discharged within 2-3 days of the surgery.
• Complete recovery takes a week post surgery.
• Within a month the patient can resume normal life activities in case of laparoscopic surgeries and if the patient had open surgery then the recuperating time may increase to 12 weeks.

After the procedure

The hospital stay in case of Gastric Bypass is short ranging from 2-4 days and the complete recovery may take from 1-3 months depending upon the type of surgery performed i.e. laparoscopic surgery or open surgery.

The patient will be kept on liquid diet initially and brought to solid foods over a period of time. The procedure is very safe and effective for rapid weight loss as the body’s ability to absorb calories and nutrients from the food is restricted significantly.  

Almost all kinds of foods are well tolerated by the patients undergoing this surgery however, the patient should always stay away from sweets as it can cause dumping syndrome meaning the patients can get diarrhea, dizziness, lightheadedness, etc. if they consume too much sweets.

Factors Affecting Cost of Gastric Bypass Treatment

Some of the following factors may affect your cost of treatment:

• The Kind of hospital you opt for
• Room –Standard single room, deluxe room, super deluxe room for the number of nights specified (including nursing fee, meals, room rate and room service)
• Operating room, ICU
• Fee for the team of doctors (Surgeons, Anesthetist, Physiotherapist, Dietician)
• Medicines
• Standard test and diagnostic procedures
• Type of Gastric Bypass Surgery Performed i.e. Laparoscopic or open surgery