A new type of weight loss surgery was preformed at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. This new type of bariatric surgery removes a section of the patients stomach though their mouth.
The sleeve gastrectomy, which is also called the gastric sleeve, sections off and permanently removes up to 80 percent of the stomach. As with other bariatric surgeries, when the size of the stomach is so greatly reduced, the patient gets fuller faster and ultimately eats less. Such procedures are commonly used to help seriously obese people achieve significant weight loss.
A common approach doctors have been preforming the gastric sleeve procedure had the doctor make an incision in the stomach to remove the sectioned off stomach tissue. But with this new technique for bariatric surgery, the surgeon can remove the patients stomach tissue through their mouth.
The surgery took one hour for the surgeon to use a combination of techniques, which included laparoscopic and orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery. The surgeon make 5 incisions in the abdomen using the laparoscopic technique. Cameras and other instruments were inserted, so the surgeon could divide the stomach into sections and then close it with staples. After the laparoscopic portion of the procedure, an endoscope was placed in the stomach via the mouth, and the divided segment of the patients stomach was removed.
There are numerous benefits to using a surgical method that allows surgeons to go through the mouth to remove the stomach sections, rather than through wide incisions, according to health experts. Mainly, the approach causes minimal trauma to the abdominal region, it lowers risks for developing hernia, and it causes far less pain for the patient.
The surgery was performed at the Center for the Treatment of Obesity at the University of California San Diego, where surgical options for minimally invasive bariatric surgery are evolving. Ultimately, the purpose of this type of surgery is to help morbidly obese patients get a tailor-made answer for their long-term weight loss goals, to leave few scars, and to involve as few medical devices as possible.
Find out more about your bariatric surgery options and find local surgeons that preform gastric sleeve bariatric surgery.