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The Gastric Sleeve

Recently, many patients and prospective patients have been asking about the “sleeve” procedure or the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  We have been performing this innovative bariatric procedure and seeing amazing results.  The weight loss result from gastric bypass has always been excellent, but because bypass was never designed to be an operation specific for weight loss, there are some long term complications such as internal hernias causing bowel obstructions, anastomic stenosis, dumping syndrome, gallstones, and nutritional deficiencies.  The band, designed specifically for weight loss, eliminated those issues but because it is a foreign body, created some new potential issues like slippage and erosion.

 

The sleeve procedure, like the band, was specifically designed for weight loss and is a purely restrictive procedure.  The restriction is created by surgically decreasing the size of the stomach by about 80-85%.  The hunger control after the sleeve procedure clinically appears to be very good.  It is thought that the gastric cells which produce the hunger hormone Ghrelin are removed during the gastrectomy and Ghrelin levels after the sleeve procedure have been reduced to lower levels than after bypass or band. The pylorus muscle controls the outlet from the stomach pouch rather than a band or anastomic opening.  The band remains and will likely continue to remain the safest of the weight loss procedures and with the quickest recovery.  I foresee the sleeve procedure rapidly becoming more popular as more and more insurance plans begin covering this procedure for their members.  Likely, the band will remain the most popular choice especially for lower BMI patients because of its safety profile.

 

There are certain groups of people who we’ve seen the sleeve most appeal to: patients with “needle phobia” for whom the adjustments would be very traumatic, patients who live very far away and would have trouble following up for adjustments, patients who have had previous antireflux surgery like a Nissen fundoplication where band and bypass may be difficult due to scar tissue, and patients who have failed adequate weight loss and hunger control with their band, but don’t want a revision to a procedure as radical as a bypass.
– Dr. Darren Soong

 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Bariatric Surgeons, Gastric Band, Gastric Sleeve, Las Vegas Weight Loss Surgeons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “The Gastric Sleeve”

  1. Insurance Coverage for Sleeve Gastrectomy Expanding « Gastric Band Institute of Las Vegas says:
    April 21, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    [...] informational seminars.  You can also learn more about the Gastric Sleeve by reading a previous blog I posted on the [...]

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Postings on this blog represent the personal views and opinions of Dr. Soong.
They are not representative of the Gastric Band Institute of Las Vegas or Surgical Weight Control Center.