Surgical Services

 Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery reduces the size of your stomach and bypasses part of your small intestine. The reduced stomach size means that you feel full after eating less food and bypassing a portion of the intestine means fewer calories are absorbed from the food you eat.  In combination, less food eaten and less calories absorbed results in the most effective weight loss procedure currently available in the United States.

Dr. Bovard performs gastric bypass using the minimally invasive Roux-en-Y procedure.  This provides all the weight loss advantages of gastric bypass with the additional benefits of reduced hospitalization and faster recovery time than traditional open methods of gastric bypass.

How gastric bypass surgery works

During the Roux-en-Y procedure, Dr. Bovard divides the stomach into a small pouch which will become your new stomach and the remainder of the stomach which will no longer receive any of the food you eat.

The upper part of the small intestine is then divided and one part is connected to the small pouch to form an outlet for food.  The other part of the divided small intestine is reconnected further down the part of the intestine draining the small pouch forming the "Y" described in the name Roux-en-y.

Although most of the stomach no longer comes in contact with food, it continues to produce digestive juices which are added to the small intestine at the Y shaped junction. 

The small stomach pouch limits the amount of food that can be eaten and by effectively shortening the small intestine that comes in contact with food, less calories are absorbed into the body.

What to results to expect from Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

Weight loss after surgery begins quite quickly and continues for one to two years and sometimes longer.  Exactly how much weight you will lose following gastric bypass depends on many factors such as your starting weight, age, health status, and how well you follow the diet and exercise guidelines that we provide for you.

In general, most patients experience a 50 to 60 percent reduction in excess weight in the first two years following surgery.