Mar30
Posted by Mrs. Mini Devassy on Sunday, 30th March 2014
Duodenal switch, one of the most complicated weight loss surgeries, is also known as vertical gastrectomy with duodenal switch, gastric reduction with duodenal switch, biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, DS or BPD-DS. Duodenal switch packs a one -two punch against obesity.It does so, by combining two surgical techniques: restrictive and malabsorptive.The restrictive component involves reducing the size of the stomach.Your bariatric surgeon would divide the stomach vertically and remove more than 85% of it. The stomach that remains is shaped like a banana and can accomodate about 100 to 150 mls or 6 ounces.Duodenal switch is a variation of another procedure, called biliopancreatic diversion.But the duodenal switch leaves a larger portion of the stomach intact including the pyloric valve, which regulates the release of stomach contents into the small intestine.As the name suggests, duodenal switch also keeps small part of the duodenum in the digestive system.Food mixes with stomach acids, then moves down to the duodenum, where they mix with bile from the gall bladder and digestive juices from the pancreas. Malabsorptive surgeries restrict the amount of calories and nutrients that the body absorbs.The malabsorptive component of duodenal switch surgery involves rearranging the small intestine to seperate the flow of food from the flow of bile and pancreatic juice.The food and the digestive juices interact only in the last 18 to 24 inches of the intestine, allowing malabsorption. Unlike the restrictive part of the surgery, the intestinal bypass part of the duodenal switch, is partially reversible, if the patient experiences malabsorptive complications.With the duodenal switch, you consume less food than normal, but it is still more than with other weight loss surgeries.Even this amount of food cannot be digested normally, so a large portion of the food passes undigested through the shortened intestine, thereby causing weight loss in the morbidly obese.This surgery is also done laparoscopically.