Question:
ALL THOSE WHO ARE BPD/DS Lap vs Open

I am chosing to have the BPD/DS Lap I will like to hear from those who had it done lap or not what are the danger, advantages ,etc. I feel that this is best for me after research because I feel I have a better chance of never regaining this weight again, but what about my stomach, will I become a candidate for stomach cancer with so much stomach removed? My doctor does all, RNY, ,DS,Band, but I want the DS please answer.    — blank first name B. (posted on July 20, 2001)

July 20, 2001
Deborah, I had DGB/DS-open in April. It is the best decision I've ever made in my life! I chose this surgery because the chances of keeping the weight loss off are a little better, and you can still eat a somewhat normal meal eventually. My surgeon does not do lap procedures for WLS, therefore I had mine open. From what I understand lap patients are able to bounce back more quickly than open, however, I was up, around, driving, shopping, etc... after 11 days after surgery. Everything went very smooth for me, and I had a speedy recovery. There are several doctors who will not perform lap on patients over a certain weight, or in patients who carry the majority in their abdomen/stomach. There are a few out there who do the lap procedure on people over 400 lbs as well, but I did not feel comfortable with it, for me. There is a group at yahoo that you may be interested in joining, it is specifically for patients that are going to, or have had ds surgery, either lap or open. I'm sure you can get alot of feedback to your questions from other lap patients, as far as recovery time, etc... The address is..........http://groups.yahoo.com/group/duodenalswitch
   — Kim B.

July 20, 2001
Deborah: I had the lap BPD/DS 22 months ago and have had excellent loss, no regain, great blood work, wonderful quality of life and eating restrictions and NO problems. Haven't had a single downside! As long as you are in the hands of an experienced lap surgeon, lap surgery has no drawbacks as the surgery is the same -- only the method differs. I suspect you have no problems in this regard as I'm guessing you're going to Mt. Sinai in NYC as they, to my knowledge, are the only team that offers lap DS, RNY & AGB. Their lap chief of surgery was my doc and he stated recently that his goal is to have "the best laparascopic center in the world." Your concerns about cancer of the stomach are also unfounded with the DS. Since there is no blind organ left, but smaller but fully functioning stomach with intact digestion, the DS patient does not face increased risk of cancer. This was explained to me recently by a pre-op who was a VERY high risk of cancer due to extensive family history. Her oncologist advised against WLS until given the literature for BPD/DS and then gave the green light due to the normal state the DS stomach returns to.
   — Jill L.