Gastric Bypass in Iran

INTRODUCTION TO GASTRIC BYPASS

There are overweight patients who had tried for years to lose weight through exercise and diet but didn’t achieve their goals. Gastric bypass (Roux-En-Y) is one of the most common weight loss (bariatric) surgery methods and like other weight loss surgeries, it will be done just when non-surgical weight loss methods like workout and diet didn’t work. All weight loss surgeries are done when the patient has serious weight-related problems like sleep disorders. The gastric bypass surgical procedure is like this: the surgeon creates a small pouch (bag) from the stomach and connects it to the small intestine. After the surgery, the food bypasses all of the stomach (just goes through the small pouch) and directly goes to the small intestine. So swallowed food bypasses most of the stomach and the first part of the small intestine. The primary reason for all weight loss surgeries in Iran is, of course, losing excess weight, but in fact, losing this excess weight reduces the risk of weight-related health problems like Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, and cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, and even infertility.

GASTRIC BYPASS COSTS in Iran and other countries

The cost of bariatric surgery other than the type of procedure depends on many factors like location, hospital quality, and surgery team fees. In fact, the main factor is location because the costs of living and services are the factors that determine facility costs and team fees. The cost of gastric bypass surgery is about 4,000 in Iran while it is about 20,000$ in Canada and 24,000$ in the US. Adding travel costs to this figure, gastric bypass surgery costs up to 5,000$ in Iran tops.

DECIDING ON WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY METHOD

There are different kinds of weight loss surgery methods like gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, or gastric balloon. They are restrictive methods, meaning they limit the eating quantity; some other methods only stop absorbing food by the digestive system. After checking the patient both physically and mentally and discussing risks, benefits, and changes of lifestyle -the patient must commit to, the surgeon decides on the surgery method. If you are only overweight you could lose weight just by changing your lifestyle habits. But if you are obese or extremely obese and have tried for at least two years to lose weight by non-surgical methods like exercise or diet and couldn’t get a result, you are a weight loss surgery candidate. If your BMI is 30 to 35, you could be treated by gastric balloon and gastric banding and if your BMI is more than 35 gastric sleeve or gastric bypass surgeries would be chosen based on some other factors and surgeons’ decision. You can calculate your BMI by dividing your weight (Kg) by your square height in meters.