Metabolic (Weight-Loss) Surgery

Metabolic surgery, also called bariatric surgery, can jumpstart your weight loss and help you get to a healthier place. Losing just 5% of your total body weight can produce heart-healthy benefits and improves symptoms of chronic conditions. People who have weight-loss surgery can lose 30% to 40% of their total body weight.

Mayo Clinic is nationally recognized as a leader in metabolic surgery. Our specialized surgeons operate on your digestive system using the latest technology and safest techniques to provide the best possible outcomes. Following surgery, we offer ongoing support to help you manage obesity and maintain your weight loss.

At Mayo Clinic, we understand that weight-loss surgery is only one piece of the puzzle for treating obesity. We offer comprehensive care above and beyond surgery to help you live your life in the healthiest way possible. When you trust Mayo Clinic with your weight-loss surgery, you can expect:

Surgical expertise. The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program recognizes Mayo Clinic as a Center of Excellence. Our surgeons perform a high volume of bariatric surgeries, offering a wide range of surgical options. Our extensive experience allows us to individualize surgeries and incorporate advanced techniques.
Personalized treatment plan. We learn about your health, lifestyle, and preferences before determining whether surgery should be part of your weight-loss plan. While your treatment may involve surgery, it will also include lifestyle guidance and support from our endocrinology team, dietitians, and mental health professionals.
Access to the newest surgical techniques. We perform minimally invasive weight-loss surgeries, such as robotic-assisted and laparoscopic procedures, whenever possible. You may also have access to new surgical techniques and approaches through our robust clinical trial program. Your bariatric team will include these opportunities in your treatment plan whenever appropriate.
Considerate care. If you don’t live nearby, we work with your local doctors to conduct preliminary testing and evaluations virtually whenever we can. We schedule in-person visits thoughtfully to get you back home as soon as possible.

Weight-loss surgery can be life-changing for many people. It alters your digestive anatomy to limit how much food your body can digest or affects how your body absorbs that food. Mayo Clinic offers a wide range of bariatric surgeries to treat people with a body mass index (BMI) of:

40 or higher
35 to 39.9, with a serious weight-related health condition such as Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure
30-34.9, with Type 2 diabetes under special circumstances

The metabolic surgeries we perform include:

Gastric bypass surgery, also called Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, is a common surgery used to help people who have not been able to lose weight through lifestyle changes alone. During gastric bypass surgery:

The stomach is sewn to create a small, walnut-sized pouch. The pouch serves as a modified stomach that can hold only about an ounce of food.
The surgeon connects the pouch directly to the small intestine. Food traveling through your digestive system bypasses most of the stomach and a small portion of the small intestine.

The procedure also causes your body to make less of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach. When your body produces less ghrelin, your appetite will decrease. After you eat, you’ll feel full quickly and for a longer period.

This surgery is less common and generally reserved for people with a BMI greater than 50. It reduces how much food you can eat and dramatically decreases the ability of your body to absorb food. This surgery involves two steps:

The surgeon reduces your stomach by 80%, like a sleeve gastrectomy.
They then reroute a large part of the small intestine to create two separate digestive pathways from the stomach — one for food and one for bile (digestive juices). The new pathways require the surgeon to make two connections in the intestines. Food bypasses most of the small intestine.

The SADI-S surgery is based on the BPD/DS procedure, but involves only one surgical connection in the bowels instead of two. Having only one new connection shortens the length of the operation and lowers the risk of post-surgical complications. The surgery involves two parts:

The surgeon removes about 80% of your stomach and forms the remaining part of the stomach into a tube-like structure or “sleeve” (sleeve gastrectomy).
They create a loop by attaching the sleeve to the last part of the small intestine. This allows food to bypass the upper part, which remains active and attached to transport bile. Food travels through the new loop, which is less than half the length of the small intestine. Bile then joins the food in the lower end of the intestine.

Your weight-loss care at Mayo Clinic doesn’t end after surgery. You receive close follow-up care for the first year. We also work with you to create an individualized care plan to provide ongoing support.

The long-term success of metabolic surgery depends on the changes you make to your eating habits and lifestyle. We help you transition to healthier habits by offering ongoing follow-up care, access to nutrition and mental health specialists, and surgical revisions as needed.

For more information about weight loss and obesity care at Mayo Clinic, check out our frequently asked questions.

Mayo Clinic surgeons have the experience and expertise to treat people with complicated medical histories. Even if you haven’t qualified for metabolic surgery at other centers, we may be able to help.

If you’ve previously had weight loss surgery and are no longer seeing results, you may be a candidate for revision surgery. Sometimes a bariatric surgery requires a revision if:

Your anatomy changes, requiring a retightening of your stomach pouch
You experience significant weight recurrence
Your initial bariatric surgery never achieved optimal weight

No matter why your previous treatment isn’t working for you anymore, Mayo Clinic provides treatments and procedures to help restart your weight loss, including surgical and nonsurgical revisions. Our surgeons specialize in correcting issues from previous bariatric surgeries, no matter where that surgery took place.

METABOLIC (WEIGHT-LOSS) SURGERY AT MAYO CLINIC

Metabolic surgery and weight loss: The Mayo Clinic difference

Types of weight-loss surgery offered at Mayo Clinic

Gastric bypass.

Gastric sleeve.

Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD/DS).

Single-anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S).

What to expect after bariatric surgery at Mayo Clinic.

Help with complex cases or after a previous weight-loss surgery fails

Contact our bariatric team.

When it's time to find answers, you know where to go.

Contact us to request an appointment.