Norman Regional Health System

Gastric Bypass Surgery After a gastric bypass surgery, most of the stomach is separated from a small "pouch" about the size of an egg that limits your food intake. The disconnected stomach stays in place and produces acids that meet up with food further downstream in the small intestine. The closing off of a majority of the stomach also changes the amount of hunger hormone produced, eliminating hunger for most patients. This allows patients to eat smaller amounts of food and not experience extreme hunger.

The small intestine is rerouted so that fewer calories and nutrients are absorbed by the body. Because a portion of the small intestine is bypassed, patients must take vitamins and supplements after gastric bypass surgery and be checked post-operative to prevent nutritional deficiencies. Because of the re-routing of a portion of the stomach and intestine with gastric bypass surgery, greater weight loss and Type 2 Diabetes resolution are expected with bypass surgery compared to gastric band procedures.

Surgeons at Norman Regional’s Journey Clinic can perform a laparoscopic bypass surgery using minimally invasive techniques. For patients, this means less blood loss, smaller scars, and a shorter recovery time.

The bypass surgery is performed within Norman Regional Health System, which is accredited by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Center for Weight Loss with this accreditation follows a rigorous review process to prove its resources and standards of practice.