Sleeve Gastrectomy:

Sleeve gastrectomy, also known as gastric sleeve surgery, is a bariatric procedure designed to reduce stomach size, limiting food intake to aid weight loss when traditional methods like diet and exercise have not been effective.

How It Works:

1. Stomach Size Reduction: During the procedure, a surgeon removes approximately 70-80% of the stomach, leaving behind a smaller, tube-shaped stomach that resembles a sleeve.

2. Restricting Food Intake: The reduced stomach size limits the amount of food you can eat, helping you feel full faster and consume fewer calories.

3. Hormonal Changes: The surgery also reduces levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, which helps decrease appetite and further supports weight loss.

Benefits:

• Significant and long-term weight loss.
• Improvement or resolution of obesity-related health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and heart disease.
• Boost in confidence and quality of life.

Recovery and Results:

• It’s a minimally invasive procedure (often done laparoscopically), with a relatively quick recovery time.
• Patients typically see substantial weight loss within the first 12-18 months after surgery, along with health improvements.

Gastric Balloon:

Gastric balloons offer a non-surgical weight-loss solution for individuals with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or more who have struggled to lose weight through other methods. The most common type of gastric balloon, such as Orbera, Lax Ball, or Spatz, is placed orally using an endoscope and is typically removed after 6-12 months. This non-invasive method leaves no scars and can result in weight loss of up to three times more than what is achievable through exercise and diet alone.

Mini Gastric Bypass:

A less invasive alternative to traditional gastric bypass, offering significant weight loss and improvement in obesity-related conditions.

Classic (Roux-en-Y) Gastric Bypass:

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass is a highly effective weight loss surgery that reshapes the digestive system to promote significant weight reduction. This procedure involves creating a smaller stomach pouch and rerouting the small intestine, leading to reduced food intake and calorie absorption. It is recommended for individuals struggling with obesity and related health issues.

How it works:

The surgery involves two main steps:

1. Creating a smaller stomach pouch: The surgeon divides the stomach into two sections. The smaller upper section, about the size of a walnut, becomes the new stomach pouch and can only hold a small amount of food (around 1 ounce initially). This limits how much food you can eat at once.

2. Re-routing the digestive system: The small intestine is divided, and part of it is connected to the new stomach pouch. This bypasses a portion of the stomach and the first part of the small intestine (duodenum), reducing the absorption of calories and nutrients.

Benefits:

• Significant weight loss: Patients often lose 60-80% of their excess weight.
• Improvement in health conditions: Conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and joint pain often improve or resolve after surgery.
• Enhanced quality of life: Many patients report higher energy levels, improved mobility, and greater confidence.

Considerations:

Gastric bypass is a major surgery and requires:

• A commitment to lifelong changes in diet, exercise, and follow-up care.
• Nutritional supplementation to prevent deficiencies due to reduced absorption of nutrients.

Duodenal Switch:

The duodenal switch is a weight-loss operation that modifies your stomach and your small intestine. It combines a gastrectomy (removal of part of your stomach) with an intestinal bypass, which makes the path your food takes through your intestines shorter. This restricts how much food your stomach can hold, and also how much nutrition your small intestine can absorb from your food. (This makes it a “malabsorptive” procedure). It also reduces the hunger hormones that your stomach and small intestine normally produce.

Gastric Plication:

Gastric plication surgery, also known as Laparoscopic Gastric Greater Curvature Plication or Gastric Imbrication, is a restriction technique that reduces the stomach size by around 75%. The procedure includes “tucking in” the stomach’s exterior curved part, causing the patient to feel full sooner, which translates to them eating less. This method can be utilized as an initial weight-loss procedure or as an option for revision weight loss surgery.

Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty:

Consider Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) for safe and effective weight loss without surgery. ESG involves the application of stitches in the stomach to create a narrow tube, reducing its capacity by 60-70%. This non-surgical procedure provides lasting benefits such as weight loss, improved quality of life for gastric ulcer patients, and better diabetes management.

Gastric Banding:

A reversible surgery that involves placing a band around the upper part of the stomach to reduce food intake.