Weight loss surgery

At HCA Houston Healthcare, our multidisciplinary teams of weight loss surgeons, registered dietitians and psychologists provide you with the comprehensive care you need before and after surgery. Eight of our facilities have earned the highest accreditations from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP). These facilities are home to Redefine Clinical Weight Loss, HCA Houston Healthcare's premier bariatric weight loss program.

Weight loss procedures can dramatically improve and control complications from health conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and sleep apnea. Other benefits of weight loss surgery include:

• Decreased risk of heart disease
• Decreased joint pain
• Increased fertility during childbearing years
• Relief from depression due to improved body image

The decision to undergo weight loss surgery will affect you for the rest of your life, and our bariatric surgeons are here to help you every step of the way. Depending on your condition, your bariatric surgeon will help you determine which type of weight loss surgery is best for you. Many of our bariatric surgery procedures use minimally invasive techniques for a faster recovery. The types of bariatric surgeries that HCA Houston offers include:

• Adjustable gastric band — An inflatable ring is placed around the top portion of the stomach, creating a tiny pouch that restricts food consumption. This restriction allows you to feel full faster.
• Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) with duodenal switch — In BPD, a surgeon removes part of the stomach and reroutes food away from the upper part of the small intestine to change the way foods are broken down.
• Gastric balloon — A nonsurgical procedure that involves the physician placing and inflating a balloon in the stomach in order to reduce stomach capacity. Gastric balloons help you adjust your portion size, resulting in weight loss, combined with a healthy diet, over time.
• Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) — A small pouch is created in the stomach with staples to restrict the amount of food you can consume to about one ounce. A Roux-en-Y procedure can lead to significant metabolic changes that eliminate diabetes 85 percent of the time.
• Revision bariatric surgery — Revision surgery can be performed for multiple reasons, such as to improve or repair a past bariatric surgery, or to change the type of bariatric surgery performed. For example, you may receive revision bariatric surgery switch from a gastric bypass to a gastric sleeve.
• Sleeve gastrectomy — A surgeon creates a small, sleeve-shaped stomach that is slightly larger than the pouch created during gastric bypass. This surgery is completed with a small incision and permanently reduces the size of the stomach by about 85 percent.