Risk and Complications of Bariatric Surgery
Complications of gastric bypass surgery differ depending on which operating procedure you have, the experience of your surgeon, and your behaviors before and after surgery.
There are difference benefits and advantages to each bariatric surgery procedure. There are three main operations we perform, ranging from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Sometimes there are leaks which occur in 1 out of 300 cases. If there is a leak, we go back and fix it. One procedure has an incidence of 1 out of every 15,000 cases.
If there is an infection, then the foreign body - the lap band - needs to be completely removed. This happens in about 1 out of 100 cases.
Sometimes there is a "band slip" which happens in 1 out of 30 cases. It can occur after a bad case of the flu or food posining where there is violent vomiting. What happens is the stomach slipping through the band and gets trapped above the band. If this happens we have to move the band back to where it belongs.
In rare cases, sometimes there is an "erosion", where the band has eroded through the wall of the stomach. This happens in less than 1 out of 100 cases. In this case, the band needs to come out.
Any major surgery involves the possibilty of complications. Contact me if you'd like to learn more about the various risks.