Question:
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROXIMAL AND DISTAL RNY??

   — JILL R. (posted on July 13, 2005)

July 13, 2005
Jill, the difference is how much of the intestines are bypassed. If I recall correctly less than 150 cm is proximal and more than 150 cm is distal. Those will distal bypasses have a higher malabsorbtion feature. The determination of which one you have is 1) amount of weight loss needed, and/or 2) procedure performed by your surgeron. Dana
   — cajungirl

July 13, 2005
Because of the greater malabsorption, Distal RNYs tend to lose more weight. My start weight was close to 400 & my BMI was over 50. If I had paid better attention, I would have asked which was being done for me. I was just happy I was having the surgery. I was done proximal and lost 120 lbs. by 8 months post op. and no more. If your BMI is 35 and you have not yet had surgery, proximal should work well for you. Now dont think that as a proximal you wont have issues with malabsorption you still have to religiously take supplements. I am 3.5 years post op and having trouble keeping up my B12 levels have to get shots regularly. Best of luck to you! Rosemary
   — SARose61

July 14, 2005
Ask YOUR surgeon! There is no national standard. Usually proximal means 75-100cm bypass and distal is 150cm bypass. Normally that is all a surgeon will do with an RNY. However, some people have been revised then they received a super long bypass or short common channel, similar to a DS surgery. In those cases they have everything but about 100-150cm bypassed. So only that short section of small bowel is combined and getting gastric juices from the stomach to break things down and absorb it. It is extremely rare that this long bypass is done from the start on an RNY. You need to know what your doctor plans to do. My surgeon typically does a 100cm bypass on morbidly obese patients and a 150cm on the super morbidly obese. I lost 252 lbs with the 150cm bypass. The other critical components are that you get transected, so no chance of staple line disruption and that you know what size pouch and stoma you are given. If the pouch and/or stoma are to large to begin with, then it really may not matter too much what the bypass length is, as you will be somewhat doomed from the start. Do you research!
   — zoedogcbr