In a triple bypass heart surgery, three arteries are affected while the quadruple bypass heart surgery deals with four blocked arteries. The blood that flows from the coronary arteries through the heart is hindered by plaque or fatty deposits. The blockage produces muscle pains and eventually leads to a heart attack. The blood flow which produces oxygen as supplied to the heart to keep it pumping. But with the onset of heart attack blood flow  will stop. The person who has a heart attack caused by a blocked coronary artery is left with no other choice but to undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

This surgical procedure involves opening the heart of the patient and taking out a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body, to be grafted or attached  to the damaged coronary artery. In triple bypass heart surgery, three veins or coronary arteries are needed while four coronary arteries are grafted in quadruple bypass heart surgery.

Before the surgery, the patientmust be physically well and strong enough to endure the procedure. As frail, weak patient may be advised against surgery and wait until the condition gets better.

The complete blood count, urine tests, x-rays and other laboratory tests should have manifest normal results. I. The patient’s blood pressure should  be closely monitored as well. The patient should undergo further testing through electrocardiogram and coronary angiogram to check his heart’s condition or status. The surgeon will now assess based on the test results.

A medical clearance showing normal results will most likely qualify the patient for bypass heart surgery. If a patienthas other illness, a collaboration with the patient’s attending physician is required for other relevant laboratory tests. Both the physician and the surgeon will work in close coordination for the surgery in order to make sure that the patient is fit for the procedure.

At the surgical room, the patient will be given the exact dosage of general anaesthesia for the surgery. A tube that is place on the patient’s mouth is attached to the ventilator. In that way the patient will be able  to breathe comfortably while the surgery is ongoing. With anaesthesia,  the patient is not allowed to talk. A pen and paper is provided beside the patient to write on anything that he wants to say prior to the surgery itself. The patient will feel drowsy and eventually fall asleep. Surgery will start as soon as the patient becomes unconscious. The duration of the surgery will depend on the equipment used but it usually lasts a few hours.

The patient will have to stay for few days or couple of weeks for  close monitoring. The patient after surgery should have normal heart beats, consistently normal vital signs, and shouldn’t have any  difficulty in breathing. Upon full recovery of the patient, he will be discharged from the hospital. But sending the patient home  doesn’t mean that there is no more risk for the other arteries to get blocked or damaged. Fact is, bypassed arteries may be blocked again but not for another ten to fifteen years and depending on the patient’s lifestyle after the surgery.

Here are the reported serious as well as mild complications of the surgery, either triple bypass surgery of quadruple bypass surgery. The injection of general anaesthesia on the patientcould lead to serious problems like state of shock and heart collapse. It would take time to revive the heart and may be fatal to the patient. The mild allergic reactions of the patient are nausea and vomiting.

Another risky complication during the surgery is the bleeding of the organs near the heart or the heart itself. It would imply great loss of blood from the patient and would require bags of blood to transfuse and replace the loss. The patient must be prepared with bags of blood with the same blood type ahead of time. Blood clotting may also take place during the surgery. There is a machine called heart- lung bypass that assists the surgeon to keep the blood from the heart to divert the flow through the machine.

Memory loss is another mild complication after the surgery. The lack of sleep and narcotics injected cause confusion and memory loss. Often times, this will only last for a few days and soon after the patient will regain his memory again.

Lastly, the worst surgery complication is infection. The infection may start from the incised area of the chest and getting vast penetration inside. It may reach the immediate organ involved in the surgery which is the heart. Infection may affect other organs like the lungs and the bladder. If it affects the lungs it may lead to pneumonia and the bladder infection may lead to cystitis. Infection could also travel through the bloodstream that may lead to sepsis.

It must be countered with strong and costly antibiotics given to the patient through intravenous fluids. The vial is injected directly to the intravenous fluid that penetrates the veins of the patient. The patient who has acquired sepsis stays at the hospital for few weeks to have the infection fully reversed. Sepsis is a fatal infection if left untreated.

The presence of other illness lengthens the recovery period of the patient. The span of recovery varies from case to case. Some may undergo cardiac rehabilitation for few weeks after the surgery while others may be physically well after few weeks of suffering from pain after the surgery. Some may still be sensitive in the coldness of the weather for few months, which will constantly cause chest pain. A recovery period varies from two months until a year. It is when their hearts have fully recovered that they can go back to their daily routine without any hassles for the heart. But there are some who may not recover from the surgery and adds to the fatality rate.

During angina, the person’s artery lining is wrapped with plaque or oily substance. The fat deposited on the lining hasaccumulated through a period of time. Eventually, the artery surrounded by cholesterol is hardened and causes the blockage of blood flow to the heart. The person whose arteries are blocked experiences chest pain, which in some cases may lead to heart attack.

A person who is experiencing a heart attack should be immediately rushed to the hospital. A single artery blockage will require the patient to undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery. It is a major surgery that deals with the heart’s artery. Bypass simply means that the blood flow must be diverted from the blocked artery and to the heart. The operation procedure requires the heart opened where a piece of vein taken out from other healthy vessels and is attached or grafted to the coronary artery to bypass the damaged or blocked blood vessel. After the surgery, the vein or artery which is attached to the coronary artery allows the normal bloodflow to the heart. Thus, the patient then breathes normally and feels better.

Preventing the patient from experiencing chest pain or angina again is undeniably the best expected outcome of the surgery. The patient’s heart eventually recovers from the heart attack and the coronary artery functions well. The result of coronary artery bypass graft surgery is considered and viewed as excellent on majority of the patients who had undergone this surgery. The chance of the patient to experience heart attacks in the future is diminished. After the different recovery period, patients can go back to their daily routines without any hassles. They’ll feel normal as if they have never undergone a coronary artery bypass surgery.

Although the surgery has shown a positive result, it is not assured that the coronary artery won’t be clogged again later. Studies have shown that the blockage of successfully bypassed coronary artery may reoccur at the duration of ten to fifteen years after the surgery. It means that the artery might still be blocked in the future. Moreover, there is also a chance that the other coronary artery of the patient will be also be blocked. The patient should continue prescribed medications and must live a healthy lifestyle. It requires the patient to quit smoking, eat healthy diet and exercise regularly.

What Can You Expect When You Have Triple Bypass Surgery?

Your doctor will give you specific instructions that you will have to follow. These will be for dietary changes or activity restrictions that you need to follow to get ready for surgery. Then you will have several pre-surgery tests which will sometimes include chest x-rays, blood tests, an electrocardiogram and a coronary angiogram (this is a special type of x-ray procedure that uses dye to help doctors see your arteries better. You will probably be admitted to the hospital on the day of the surgery but that is not always the case so you want to make sure that you ask your doctor about it.

Now you need to know what to expect during the procedure. The coronary bypass surgery will usually take between three to six hours and will require a general anesthesia. The number of bypasses required will depend on the location and severity of blocked arteries in your heart.

Once you have been given the anesthesia, they will place a breathing tube through your mouth. It will be connected to a ventilator which will breathe for you during and immediately after your surgery. When you have this tube in place you will not be able to talk but you can still communicate with hand gestures and writing. The tube will be taken out when you can breathe for yourself after heart bypass surgery .

You will spend a day or two in intensive care after the surgery. This is so they can keep a watch on your heart, blood pressure, breathing and other vital signs. If there are not complications, then you will more than likely be released from the hospital within a week. You should expect it to take about six to twelve weeks for you to recover.

When you are on the road to recovery you will want to make sure that you stay with the life changes that you made before the heart surgery. You will still be at risk for more blocked arteries in the future but when you take care of yourself and follow your doctor’s orders you will minimize the risk of a recurrence. You need to watch your diet and make sure that you get enough exercise. Other things that you will want to do are to maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking if you do, reduce cholesterol levels if you have this health concern, control your blood pressure, and manage diabetes if you have it. It is very important that you keep yourself healthy. You are the one that will be able to stop or at least delay any other blocked arteries that may occur in the future. So be smart about your health and do what the doctor tells you so that you can live a long and healthy life.

Aortobifemoral bypass is a medical procedure, the objective of which is to repair damaged aorta – the largest artery carrying blood and oxygen to our body, originating from the heart and travelling down the stomach to reach the femoral arteries. These femoral arteries are two smaller blood vessels supplying blood and oxygen to the hips and legs.

When the aorta or any blood vessel for that matter is damaged or blocked, the supply of blood and oxygen to the body is greatly affected. Invariable pain, ulcer in the extremities and even gangrene are the obvious indicators of a diseased blood vessel. The showing of these symptoms indicates that blood flow from the heart is not reaching its destinations, which in this case are the lower extremities.

Who Needs Aortobifemoral Bypass?

Aortobifemoral bypass is regarded as the most hard-wearing bypass procedure for the peripheral nervous system. Patients with the following symptoms may be recommended to undergo this surgical procedure.

• Acute Aortic Aneurysm
• Extreme cases of claudication or ulcers / non-healing wounds on lower legs
• Severe abdominal aortic occlusion
• Critical limb ischemia
• Impotence
• Atherosclerosis of the abdominal aorta or iliac arteries
• Kidney transplant patients needing improved blood flow to the new kidney

As the objective of this surgical procedure is revascularization in the arteries or blood vessels, precise assessment or evaluation of the condition of the affected aorta or iliac vessels is very crucial. If this is recommended by your doctor, chances are your artery blockage or narrowing is severe and could pose even more serious harm and danger to your health.

Who Cannot Have Aortobifemoral Bypass Surgery?

Aortobifemoral bypass is an all-embracing procedure which requires the patient to be on general anaesthesia, not all candidate patients can have the surgery. A patient who is on the list below, are not likely to be recommended for this procedure.

• Old, feeble patients who are not physically fit for surgery – their poor health conditions may not withstand the procedure
• Stroke or myocardial infarction patients – they require wide-range of pre-operative workouts as they are at higher risks
• Colostomy patients – their abdomen might not be ready for another surgical procedure
• Retroperitoneal fibrosis patients – they manifest similar symptoms but the causes are different. Requires intensive evaluation of the cause of symptoms before any surgery is recommended to avoid any misdiagnosis or wrong treatment

What are the Post-Surgery Risks?

As in any surgical procedure, aortobifemoral bypass surgery is not an exemption. The common risks are :

• Heart attack
• Kidney Failure / Lung Infection
• Respiratory problems
• Bowel failure
• Infection from the cuts / incisions
• Bleeding
• Allergic response to medicines
• Blood clotting in legs or arms
• Graft infection

To avoid other problems or complications, a thorough pre-surgery workup is critical and important. This is to ensure that all high-risks patients have gone through the rigorous pre-op clearance from the concerned doctors (cardiologists, renal and colostomy specialists, etc.)

In general, the expected outcome of aortobifemoral bypass surgery is on the high side, with only about 2-5% mortality rate.

Problems with the Lap Band

However, the gastric bypass band is not completely without risk. For example, there is a chance of the band slipping, which may require surgery to remedy. Another problem is that the band may erode into the gastric lumen and need to be replaced. The tubing may also go through mechanical malfunctions, such as cracks in the tubing, and the fluids that condensate into hollow the band may become infected.

As with any other gastric bypass procedures, the patient may experience digestive problems if they are not following their diet to the letter. This can include constipation, dysphagia, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, abnormal stools, and bowel obstruction. Abdominal pain, fever, hernia and infection may also occur.

Being Careful

We don’t mean to scare you away from seeking surgery that may actually save your life, but you should know all of your options and talk it over with your doctor, first. Don’t jump into gastric bypass surgery without first thinking about it in depth, talking it over with your doctor, talking it over with your loved ones, and talking it over with yourself.

The lap band method provides an excellent alternative to traditional gastric bypass surgery, but it is not without its share of risk, and it does not alleviate the personal responsibility the patient shoulders towards their own health.
First part

Open incision surgeries were shown to have a 14% complication rate, while laparoscopic surgery had a mere 7% complication rate. For over 400 laparoscopic bypass surgeries, there was a zero percent mortality rate, where a similar study showed a 0.11% mortality rate

in traditional, open incision gastric bypass surgeries. This isn’t to say that complications and mortality never, ever occur in laparoscopic bypass surgery operations, however, the risk is greatly reduced.

The laparoscopic gastric bypass roux en-y method was first performed in 1993, and is credited with the increasing popularity of gastric bypass as an option for extreme weight problems. However, this method is also considered one of the most difficult procedures for surgeons to perform. Still, the benefits include shorter hospital stays and greatly reduced discomfort. There also tends to be less scarring, very little risk of incisional hernia, and much shorter recovery time.

Because of the expertise involved, this method may be more costly, but it is phenomenally safer than traditional open incision methods. Of course, because of the price involved, we strongly recommend talking with your gastric bypass insurance provider and looking into alternative solutions to a serious weight problem.

And this is something to be stressed: Gastric bypass is a last resort measure for extreme weight issues and can only be recommended when your life or long term health is seriously at risk. It is most definitely not a vanity operation. With laparoscopic methods, gastric bypass complications are far less common, but gastric bypass surgery always demands major lifestyle changes on the part of the patient. Talk with your doctor and look into other options before considering gastric bypass surgery.

First part of the article

Contrary to popular conception, there is not just one, single option for gastric bypass surgery. There are actually three variations. These variations are known as the Roux en-Y Proximal, Roux en-Y Distal, and the Mini-gastric bypass, also known as the Loop Gastric Bypass.  Understanding these surgeries and the gastric bypass complications from them, is essential.

The Roux en-Y methods involve reconstruction of the bowels so as to speed up the feelings of fullness, with the distal method shortening the bowels to an extent. The loop gastric bypass method is actually not in use today for bariatric surgery, but it is worth delving into if you’re interested in learning the full history of gastric bypass surgery.

Rather than the Y-shaped bowel reconstruction utilized by the other two alternative methods of gastric bypass surgery, the mini-gastric bypass reconstructs a loop of the small bowel. This method was first used in 1967, but has been more or less abandoned by bariatric surgeons since the 1970’s.

The advantages offered by this method are mainly that the construction of the area it reconstructs is much simpler than the Y shaped bowel. This means that the surgery itself is much easier and quicker, and that there is less chance of error. However, the reason that this method has been largely abandoned far outweighs its benefits: There are just too many complications.

Included among the complications, this approach allows bile as well as pancreatic enzymes from the small bowel to enter into the esophagus, causing inflammation and even ulceration in the stomach and the esophagus. Further complications: if a leak into the abdomen occurs, the consequences caused by these corrosive fluids can be quite severe. This is most common when the reconstruction is placed adjacent to the esophagus, and the risk can be reduced by placing the loop closer to the bottom of the stomach.

However, even though placing the loop lower can reduce risk, medical professionals have deemed the risk too high, nonetheless.

The operation is still in use, just not for bariatric surgery. Today you can still find thousands of patients who received a loop reconstruction after stomach cancer, ulcer surgery, or severe injury to the stomach. In other words, this method is only put into use when the patient’s life absolutely depends on it. Because of the complications involved with the loop method, and the fact that no licensed doctor is likely to perform the operation for gastric bypass reasons, we can only recommend the Roux en-Y methods.

This isn’t to say that the other methods of gastric bypass are completely devoid of any risk of complications. Of course, the complication rate for gastric bypass surgery has been lowered to 7% through the use laparoscopic procedural methods, but 7% doesn’t mean 0%. Laparoscopic gastric bypass has become much more popular.

Still, with traditional open incision methods, the complication rate was twice that, so we are definitely making progress in this field.  It should also be noted that the mortality rate for laparoscopic surgery was shown at zero percent in a recent study, while the rate jumps to 0.6% with open procedures. If you are given the choice, we urge you to take the laparoscopic route, as it has been proven to be just plain safer.

Gastric bypass surgery should be considered an option only as a last resort. Chances are in favor of a patient receiving the operation and healing with no complications, however, you will have to make many lifestyle choices, and you will still need to be dedicated to staying in shape for the long term effects of the surgery to succeed. If you feel you have no other options for living a healthy life, however, then you should certainly look into this option, as it has saved more than a few lives.

We cannot recommend this strongly enough: If you have the choice between laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery or the traditional, open incision method, take the laparoscopic method.Laparoscopic surgery also goes by the name of “minimally invasive surgery”, or MIS. Other nicknames include bandaid surgery, or ben ogg surgery. A relatively new development in surgical sciences, laparoscopic surgery allows surgeons to operate with very small incisions to perform surgery in the abdominal or pelvic regions.

The related method known as keyhole surgery usually refers to surgery performed on the thoracic, or chest cavity, also called thoracoscopic surgery, and utilizing similar methods to laparoscopic surgery. Both laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery belong to the broader field known as endoscopy.

The term laparoscopic comes from, as you may have guessed, the laparoscope. The laparoscope involves a telescopic rod lens system connected to a video camera. A fiber optic cable system is connected to a cold light source, usually halogen or xenon, which is used to illuminate the field of operation within the patient’s body.

The above tools are allowed to move freely within the body by way of inflation with CO2, which expands the open area around the operative field. CO2 is used because it is common to the human body and can be easily absorbed by human tissue, or else removed by way of the respiratory system. That CO2 is completely non-flammable is also important, as many of the tools utilized in laparoscopic surgery are electronic and have the potential to ignite flammable gasses in the atmosphere.

There has been a bit of controversy over minimally invasive surgery, and it is certainly true that there are risks involved with laparoscopic surgery, however, these risks are greatly reduced from the number of risks involved in traditional open incision surgery, and this is especially true when it comes to laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery. Continue…

Make no mistake, though. Even an adjustable LAP BAND will still require major lifestyle changes. In any event, whether or not to undergo gastric bypass surgery is not a decision to be made lightly, or without serious forethought. Gastric bypass surgery is not a quick fix to moderate weight problems, it is a last resort for serious, life and health threatening weight problems.

The most major of changes will, of course, be your diet. This is true no matter what variety of gastric bypass surgery you undergo. You will need to stick to a liquid diet for days after your surgery, during the initial recovery, before switching to a puree diet, and finally, soft foods, before moving on to a normal, though healthy, and strict, diet again.

This healthy diet will need to be coupled with a dedication to fitness and exercise. Gastric bypass surgery can be of immense help in staying fit and healthy, in tackling life threatening problems with obesity, and prolonging your life and improving your quality of life, but there is no such thing as a magical, one time-fixes-all quick-remedy to weight problems. Any solution to weight gain must be coupled with a healthy lifestyle. That said, the versatility of the LAP BAND can go a long way towards helping you reach your fitness goals.

Added benefits of lap gastric bypass

Interestingly, lab bands have been shown to help not only in losing weight and staying healthy, but in fighting depression. A recent study monitored two groups of 600 overweight lap band patients over a period of five years. Both groups had 29% depressive patients, and after six months, both groups reported feeling considerably less depressed than they had before. More…

Gastric bypass weight loss is something that can be achieved through various gastric bypass procedures, but please keep in mind, surgery alone cannot keep you in shape.

Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery will get you started, and it can save your life if you’re facing serious health risk or even mortality as a result of severe weight problems, but gastric bypass surgery is not a quick fix, it is not a one-time-fixes-everything answer to weight problems.

If you really want to kick obesity’s butt, it’s going to take serious, personal dedication to your health. You’re going to need to stick to a strong exercise routine, a strict, healthy diet, and a generally healthy lifestyle. The rewards are well worth the trouble.

Within the first six months, the average gastric bypass surgery patient may report losing anywhere from fifty to a hundred pounds, depending on the severity of their weight problem. However, it is just as easy to keep this weight on. Your stomach will be able to hold less food, but it’s still possible to stick to a fatty food, high sugar diet, and still remain obese long after a gastric bypass operation was completed successfully and without complication.

Addressing post gastric bypass diet needs for a moment…

You’re going to need to stick to liquids for the first few days after surgery. This is not so much to keep weight gain from occurring, rather, this is simply because your stomach isn’t ready for real food yet. At your doctor’s orders, you will advance from liquids to purees, to soft foods, and eventually back to normal foods.

However! These normal foods will have to be in much smaller portions than you may be used to. You will want to pay attention to chew your food more thoroughly for proper digestion, and you will want to avoid sugars when you can. Too much sugar in a post GBP, or Gastric Bypass Procedure patient’s stomach can result in dumping syndrome. If you don’t know what dumping syndrome is, it is exactly as the name implies. Dumping syndrome is one of the gastric bypass problems that results in diarrhea and anxiety.

Achieving gastric bypass weight loss is a personal endeavor which will require as much dedication as any fulltime job. Do not think that you can walk into a hospital big and walk out slim. That said, losing a lot of weight, very fast, is made much, much easier with the help of gastric bypass surgery, but let’s make it clear that gastric bypass is not cosmetic surgery, it is not for vanity. Gastric bypass surgery should only be considered when your weight is seriously threatening your health, or even your life.

Talk about your options with your doctor, with your loved ones, and with yourself long before committing to anything as serious and life changing as gastric bypass surgery. Read as much as you can on the subject, know the risk, proceed with confidence, but proceed with caution as well.