Question:
What is transection

I need to know what transection is some one said open rny with transection was the only way to go to maintain the weight loss for good and less pain    — [Anonymous] (posted on January 9, 2001)

January 9, 2001
Transection is the surgical act of completely dividing or separating an organ or tissue. In the RNY procedure, a small portion of the upper stomach is separated from the rest of the stomach (which remains healthy and intact). The small portion becomes the new stomach, or "pouch", which only holds a tiny portion of food or liquid at a time. In the earlier days of this surgery, surgeons simply placed several rows of staples across the stomach to make this separation...in some cases, and for sometimes unknown reasons, the staple line would fail causing an opening back into the "unused" lower part of the stomach (causing failure of the surgery altogether), or leakage of stomach contents into the abdomen, resulting in a need for surgical repair. In recent years, a growing number of bariatric surgeons have come to feel that a complete transection of the stomach with multiple rows of staples on each side of the cut-away portion, yielded better and more reliable results with extremely rare or no chance of leakage at the surgical site. You need to do thorough research, talk with your surgeon as well as post-op patients who have had the different WLS procedures to determine just which approach suits your particular needs...all of them will give you the end-result of the weight loss. Whether any patient keeps the weight off "for good" is determined by their ability to follow the post-op regimen and maintain the commitment "for good". As far as the pain issue, there can be no argument that lap procedures are far less painful than open procedures. Lap procedures are not painLESS and are still "major surgeries", but generally patients without complications can expect to be in the hospital only a couple of days and probably back to full activity within 1-3 weeks. Open procedures require a fairly large incision in most cases, often accompanied by tubes and drains, which require much more pain management and a necessarily longer post-op recovery period. All of us are quick to defend our choice of procedures...what has been successful in our own personal cases, suddenly becomes "the best choice". You are the only person who can make this decision for YOU...just get all the information you can and then proceed with confidence. Best wishes!
   — Diana T.