Sleeve Gastrectomy
The sleeve gastrectomy is a restrictive procedure that limits the amount of food you can eat by reducing the size of your stomach. During this procedure a thin vertical sleeve of stomach is created using a surgical stapling device via keyhole surgery. This sleeve will typically hold between 50-150 milliliters which is about the size of a banana. The rest of the stomach is removed. The newly created gastric sleeve is able to hold approximately 1/10th of what the stomach was able to hold before.
The stomach sleeve restricts the amount of food you can eat before feeling full. As you eat less food your body stops storing excess calories and starts using its fat supplies for energy.
As with the gastric band procedure, many health problems i.e. back pain, sleep apnoea, high blood pressure, diabetes and depression may improve or be resolved following surgery.
Advantages
- Limits the amount of food that can be eaten at a meal
- Food passes through the digestive tract in the usual order, allowing vitamins and nutrients to be fully absorbed into the body
- No postoperative adjustments are required
- In clinical studies patients lost an average of 55% of their excess weight.2
Click here to view an interactive annimation of the sleeve gastrectomy.
Reference: 2. Brethauer SA, Hammel JP, Schauer PR. Systematic review of sleeve gastrectomy as staging and primary bariatric procedure. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2009;5:469-475.
