Bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery)

Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. Hence, bariatric surgery is essentially the surgery for the purpose of weight loss and maintenance.

Since surgery is a drastic, risky and, in some cases, irreversible step, doctors generally limit the availability of bariatric surgery to situations where the risks of surgery are outweighed by health benefits dramatic weight loss is likely to provide. The basic eligibility criteria include:

Extreme obesity defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more -- about 45 kg (100 pounds) overweight for men and 35 kg (80 pounds) for women

Moderate obesity defined as a BMI between 35 and 39.9 and a serious obesity-related health problem such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or severe sleep apnea (when breathing stops for short periods during sleep)

an understanding of the operation and the lifestyle changes you will need to make.

The prevalence of extreme obesity in the US is about 3-5 percent of the population. Many more have moderate obesity complicated by weight related health conditions, such as type II diabetes. This makes tens of million of people candidates for bariatric surgery, at least in principle.

Bariatric operations fall into the following broad categories:

Malabsorptive procedures: although also reducing stomach size, these operations are based mainly on malabsorption.
- Biliopancreatic Diversion (Scopinaro procedure)

Restrictive procedures: this type of surgery primarily reduces stomach size
- Vertical Banded Gastroplasty (Mason procedure, stomach stapling)
- Adjustable gastric band (or "Lap Band")
- Sleeve gastrectomy

Mixed procedures: applying both techniques simultaneously
- gastric bypass surgery, such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
- Sleeve Gastrectomy with Duodenal Switch

The most commonly used types of bariatric operations are further discussed in the articles on Gastric bypass and Gastric banding.

See also the index of studies related to weight loss surgery.

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