Morbid obesity is a rampant health concern for United States health officials, with the number increasing almost daily. Patients across the country look for different ways to achieve weight loss from dieting to plastic surgery. But in lieu of this search some of the more extreme obesity patients come across a particular option that is advertised to give almost instant results, leading many patients to ask: what is stomach stapling?

Stomach stapling, or gastric banding surgery, is a type of bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery) that is performed on patients to limit the amount of food they can eat. It is currently the only option that effectively treats morbid obesity, for whom traditional methods, such as diet and exercise, have failed.

Ideally, the stomach staples would be used to create a small stomach pouch, where the bottom of the pouch would be a tiny hole where the contents can flow into the remainder of the stomach, and then into the gastrointestinal tract.

The pouch is the key factor in preventing the patient from overeating, which is supposed work in conjunction with the patient’s lifestyle change, which would ideally include increased physical activity and healthy eating.

What Is Stomach Stapling?

During this surgery part of the patient’s stomach is removed, but the digestive process remains. The staples are used to separate the stomach into two parts, with one being that small pouch mentioned before.

When food is digested in this revised stomach tract, the contents are emptied into the pouch and then it digests the food. Due to severity in the size the stomach decreases, the procedure is referred to as restrictive, and highly taxing on the patient.

There are several different kinds of gastric bypass procedures including:

• Adjustable gastric banding (AGB): A procedure where an inflatable band is attached around the top portion of the stomach and tightened like a belt to form the pouch, which serves as the new smaller stomach. No staples are used in this procedure, which is relatively new to the United States.

• Vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG): A procedure that uses a combination of staples and a band to create the pouch. A dime-sized opening is made at the bottom of the new stomach that opens into the rest of the larger stomach; plastic tissue or mesh is wrapped around the opening to help prevent the opening from stretching. Reportedly, patients weigh 50 percent to 60 percent of less one year after the surgery.

• Vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG): This procedure uses staples to remove a large portion of the stomach; the remaining stomach “sleeve” will hold approximately one-quarter cup of liquid, which will eventually expand to hold one cup of food.

Recovery from the surgery is just as difficult because the stomach has to readjust itself. The food must be well-chewed and easy to digest, otherwise it may induce nausea and vomiting. It has been reported that numerous patients need revision surgery due to the patient overeating after the surgery, or due to defective surgical staples.

Despite how often the surgery is used to treat obesity, surgeons are often reluctant to perform this procedure, due to the dangerous nature it presents to the patients. Physicians repeatedly tell patients that this should not be treated as a go-to solution, and that less extreme measures should be taken first.

In fact, several class action lawsuits have been filed against stomach staple manufacturers for allegedly making weak or defective staples, which were used in their surgeries. For such cases, it was reported that stomach fluids had leaked into their abdomens, making emergency surgery necessary to prevent further complications.