Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy Explained

Introducing the New Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

• Some people are obese and in need of bariatric surgery. Fortunately, these patients have several different types of operations that they can consider, including Lap-Band, Roux-En-Y (RNY) gastric bypass surgery and the Duodenal Switch. Now, they have one more to add to this list, and it is the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

What Is Different about the Laparoscopic Sleeve Procedure?

• This new procedure eliminates some of the problems that patients encounter after undergoing the bariatric surgeries listed above. For example, this latest laparoscopic surgery does not require that the surgeon place a foreign object into the body as is required with the Lap-Band procedure.

What Is Different about the Laparoscopic Sleeve Procedure?

• The laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy also does not cause the body to be unable to absorb essential nutrients as can occur with RNY and the Duodenal Switch.

Good Candidates for the Laparoscopic Procedure

• Because the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy solves the issues described above, those who have been difficult to treat for their obesity have a viable solution to this problem. If their doctors have indicated that gastric bypass surgery would be too risky for them or their BMIs are too high to even consider an operation, they may be able to qualify for this new laparoscopic procedure.

What Does “Laparoscopic” Mean?

• “Laparoscopic” means that the procedure is minimally invasive. The surgeon will make five very small incisions between .5 and 1.5 centimeters. Smaller incisions are preferable to larger ones because the laparoscopic procedure reduces the amount of time patients need to recover from the surgery. It also decreases hemorrhaging and is much less painful for the patient.

The Surgery Explained

• During the procedure, the surgeon will reduce the size of the patient’s stomach without placing any foreign bodies into the area. Instead, the surgeon will make a vertical incision in the stomach to create a long sleeve. The portion of the stomach that the surgeon removes is the portion where Ghrelin is largely produced. Ghrelin is the hormone that stimulates hunger, so patients who undergo this procedure notice that they do not feel as hungry as they have in the past.

The Surgery Explained

• The part of the stomach that is excised will be discarded, so this procedure is considered to be irreversible. With a smaller stomach, patients feel full earlier than they had in the past and can now eat less food. This, of course, results in weight loss, but it does not affect how vitamins and minerals are absorbed by the digestive system.

The Advantages of Laparoscopic Surgery

• The procedure only takes about 60 minutes and does not require that the patient spend more than one night in the hospital. People will not be affected by this procedure as they would be by the others because every part of the digestive tract is left intact. Therefore, the body can continue to work as it always has, and this eliminates the complications that people suffer from after other bariatric surgeries.

The Advantages of Laparoscopic Surgery

• With this new technology, patients who choose the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy do not develop ulcers as often, and it requires less follow-up after the surgery is over. Aside from helping more people, it is a procedure that makes losing weight a much more attainable goal for the obese.

Further Reading…

• AMBI: Advanced Metabolic Bariatric Institute performs laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy procedures at a fraction of the cost of the North American rate. Visit us today at ambisurgery.com for more detailed information.