In the same way as we saw a surge in gastric sleeve procedures about 5 years ago, the same thing could be about to happen with the mini gastric bypass (also called the ‘loop’ or ‘single anastomosis’ bypass).

The mini bypass is already widely used in the NHS in England and it is popular in other parts of the world too. You can read more about the mini and how it differs from the traditional ‘Roux en Y’ bypass here. Just this week a new study has been published that contrasts results for patients who had a mini bypass with those who had a gastric sleeve*. The study took place in India and outcomes were monitored over a 3 year period. 

Those outcomes showed that weight loss was the same (about 65% excess weight loss for both procedures) and that health improvements were broadly the same, a little better for mini bypass than the gastric sleeve. The bigger difference was in the quality of life scores for mini bypass patients who had pre-operative weight-related health problems, these patients reported better quality of life scores for the mini bypass than the gastric sleeve.

What does it mean? Well, the study confirms that the sleeve is an excellent procedure. We already knew this. What it adds is that patients who are good candidates for the gastric sleeve might consider mini bypass also and expect similar outcomes. If you are researching the gastric sleeve it is worth looking into the mini bypass too and discussing it at your surgeon consultation before deciding what is best for you. *Shivakumar et al Obesity Surgery 2018