Hi, did anyone here have the Mini-Gastric Bypass? Why do so many surgeons do this, if it is a safer procedure that regular bypass or sleeve?

Many insurers in the US don’t cover this method even though it has slightly better outcomes than the sleeve or RNY. You might get more responders in the DS threads, since the surgery is more like that.

I don’t know much about the mini gastric bypass but the SADI is now covered by insurance and it has better stats thus far than then bypass and sleeve. Its weigh loss is statistically quicker, more weight lost and more durable than the bypass and it’s considered comparable in terms of safety. It is relatively new so not all surgeons do it and the research is still coming in but Maybe look into it. I have been very happy with it as a revision surgery. I have lost 75 pounds already. I have some other medical stuff that’s slowed my loss a bit because the doctors don’t want me to be at such as calorie deficit right now, but I feel like once I’m back at it I will lose the rest pretty steadily.

Also, There was a guy on here that put a whole lot of information out there about the mini gastric bypass a while back. If you search for it you should find some of his posts and if you respond to one of them it should send notifications to the others who were active in the thread so hopefully someone who knows about it will get an email the thread is active and come back and read your questions. I just did a search and he must’ve deleted his account because now it’s listed as guest. His screen name was MiniGastricBypassDude but I guess he won’t receive the.notifications. Others who were active on the threads will though and there is lots of information there to read about the surgery that he posted In the past.

Edited December 27, 20241 yr by ShoppGirl

When my wife and I were first looking into WLS 20+ years ago, there were several newer procedures, including the MGB mini-bypass, DS duodenal switch and the VSG vertical sleeve gastrectomy, that were circling the periphery of bariatrics, which at the time was mostly lap bands and the RNY gastric bypass. These were the only procedures that were endorsed by the ASBS (American Society of Bariatric Surgeons) - the predecessor name for today's ASMBS. Since that time, the DS, VSG and newer SIPS/SADI/"Loop DS" that have gained endorsement from the ASMBS and general insurance coverage in the US. The MGB never made it past that hurdle here in the US, so isn't commonly done or covered by insurance. Bile reflux seems to be the major legacy problem that caused the profession to move away from it at the time. There are claims that some new techniques have been developed to minimize that problem, and maybe they do, but it's a hard sell to make it mainstream in the US. It has become more accepted in other countries.

Overall, being in the States, I wouldn't be overly eager to go with the MGB as it is not commonly done here, so there are fewer MDs around who are familiar with its' care over the long term; the RNY, in contrast, has been done for around 140 years for reasons other than weight loss, so is a well known configuration in the medical world, as are the problems one may encounter over the years. If you have an unusual configuration like an MGB or BPD/DS, it can be harder to isolate any health problems one may have years down the road owing to the general unfamiliarity with the procedure -at least the DS has significantly better weight loss and diabetes results than the other procedures to make that a worthwhile consideration.

If you live in a country where the MGB is commonly done, then it would be a worthwhile consideration, but the US has too many other mainstream procedures commonly available and accepted that do as well or better than the MGB that it doesn't make much sense here.

thank you all for the explanations. They were very helpful

3 hours ago, RickM said:

When my wife and I were first looking into WLS 20+ years ago, there were several newer procedures, including the MGB mini-bypass, DS duodenal switch and the VSG vertical sleeve gastrectomy, that were circling the periphery of bariatrics, which at the time was mostly lap bands and the RNY gastric bypass. These were the only procedures that were endorsed by the ASBS (American Society of Bariatric Surgeons) - the predecessor name for today's ASMBS. Since that time, the DS, VSG and newer SIPS/SADI/"Loop DS" that have gained endorsement from the ASMBS and general insurance coverage in the US. The MGB never made it past that hurdle here in the US, so isn't commonly done or covered by insurance. Bile reflux seems to be the major legacy problem that caused the profession to move away from it at the time. There are claims that some new techniques have been developed to minimize that problem, and maybe they do, but it's a hard sell to make it mainstream in the US. It has become more accepted in other countries.

Overall, being in the States, I wouldn't be overly eager to go with the MGB as it is not commonly done here, so there are fewer MDs around who are familiar with its' care over the long term; the RNY, in contrast, has been done for around 140 years for reasons other than weight loss, so is a well known configuration in the medical world, as are the problems one may encounter over the years. If you have an unusual configuration like an MGB or BPD/DS, it can be harder to isolate any health problems one may have years down the road owing to the general unfamiliarity with the procedure -at least the DS has significantly better weight loss and diabetes results than the other procedures to make that a worthwhile consideration.

If you live in a country where the MGB is commonly done, then it would be a worthwhile consideration, but the US has too many other mainstream procedures commonly available and accepted that do as well or better than the MGB that it doesn't make much sense here.

This is a very good point about having a different procedure. I went with the SADI because it was a revision to an existing sleeve and revision surgeries do not produce the same results in terms of weight loss and durability, but the SADI offered more. In terms of other medical issues, though you will constantly have to have your bariatric doctor in the loop with any issues that may even remotely have to do with your gastro system and this can be complicated because the doctors don’t want to step on one another’s toes. But in terms of family doctors or doctors of any other specialty, I have not met one since I started researching this surgery or since I’ve had it that I have even heard of it. If you do go with this one, you need to educate yourself so that you can explain that to them. And it is possible that you find yourself in a position where something could get messed because the doctor just hasn’t seen it before where it’s more likely if you had something as common as a bypass they will have seen it. I mean there’s pros and cons with everyone. There’s no perfect answer or they would only do one and we wouldn’t be here naming off a handful of surgeries that are sort of commonly done and in terms of revisions, they do even more. I think they just make up names for them as they go along, honestly. My best advice would be to educate yourself as much as you can and go back a couple of times to make sure you get all of your questions answered by the doctor. They usually only want to give you one appointment but if you say you’re not ready to choose, they should give you another appointment with the doctor or a PA or NP. But that is a very good point about having the less common procedure does present obstacles or potential ones down the road. I mean if you raised the fact that you have it to any good doctors attention, they know where to find the information and should be able to still provide you adequate care but in an emergency situation it’s better for the information to already be in the doctors head.