2. Vertical banded gastroplasty
             IV. Vertical Banded Gastroplasty Surgery
             Morbid obesity means being overweight to the point where you are prone to disease. You are considered to be morbidly obese if you are more than double your ideal body weight or more than 100 pounds overweight. Research shows that in 1998, 55 percent of the adult American population was estimated to be overweight or obese (Insel, pp. 302). Due to the fact that obesity causes a lot of health problems, many adults are seeking to have obesity surgery to assist them with their weight loss.
             Obesity surgery is an operation that reduces or bypasses the stomach or small intestine so that morbidly obese people can achieve significant and permanent weight loss. Obesity surgery does not make people thin. Most people lose about 60% of their excess weight through this treatment. They still must diet and exercise to maintain a normal weight. There are a lot of different types of obesity surgeries but the most common ones are gastric bypass, vertical banded gastroplasty, and liposuction.
             Roux-en-Y Gastric bypass surgery is the most common type of obesity surgery. It has been performed in the United States for about 25 years. Gastric bypass is performed by making a small pouch in the upper part of the stomach. A small intestine is joined to this section and the food passes directly from the small pouch into this intestine. The volume of the stomach is reduced by four rows of stainless steel staples that separate the main body of the stomach from the small newly created pouch. The remainder of the stomach empties through the small intestine into the intestine that has been joined to the stomach. The excluded stomach contains acid and gastric juice only, and this together with bile passes down the small bowel joining the food and thus helping to digest it. The excluded and unused portion of the stomach remains unchanged, because it has a normal blood supply. The volu...