terminology... duodenum, jejunum, ileum, small bowel, small intestine, ...

[Guest guest]

OK, all you anatomy geniuses out there... please help In looking over Dr.

R's site, he says that with the MGB the duodenum is bypassed and food goes

directly into the small bowel. Quite frankly, I'm not familiar with the term

" small bowel. " I know that the small intestine is made up of the duodenum,

jejunum, and ileum... so I'm wondering if small bowel=jejunum + ileum or does he

bypass those as well? From what I can tell, (thanks to my Taber's) the duodenum

is only 10 inches or so long... so I'm assuming he's bypassing part of the

jejunum as well. What happens to the bile and pancreatic enzymes that are

secreted into the duodenum? Don't we need these to digest food (break it down

into an absorbable form)? I realize that part of the reason the operation works

is malabsorption, but I always thought that bile and pancreatic juices were

rather essential--and we would need them to some extent.

BTW... I love my Taber's (Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary). It even has dumping

syndrome and Billroth's operations.