Bariatric surgery sleeve


Bariatric surgery sleeve: Its Features, History, Benefits and More

Gastric sleeve surgery is a popular form of bariatric surgery – alternately known as sleeve gastrectomy. It is preferred by patients suffering from obesity because of two reasons. First of all, it is a relatively less complicated surgical procedure than gastric bypass. Secondly, it is a low-maintenance treatment – categorically free of the complication rates typically associable with Lap Band Surgery. Let us find out more about bariatric surgery sleeve in the course of this post.

Bariatric surgery sleeve

What is the surgical procedure all about?

Bariatric surgery aims at weight reduction by reducing the size of your stomach – so that it cannot hold as much food as it could do before the surgery. A surgeon performing sleeve gastrectomy just severs 75% of your stomach leaving nothing behind but a sleeve.

It was on the 1st of January 2010 that United Healthcare had added sleeve gastrectomy to the list of weight loss surgerical procedures covered by them. The surgical procedure quickly became popular from there – with almost all the healthcare units adding them to their portfolio in the following two years. Till 2015, it was estimated that gastric sleeve was the fastest growing surgical procedure as far as weight reduction surgery is concerned.

Benefits of this surgery

We have already told you that gastric sleeve surgery entails lower complication rate than Lap Band. As such, it gets easier for patients to secure insurance before undergoing this surgery as well. It has been maintained that patients recommended other types of weight loss surgical procedures find it difficult to procure insurance cover.

People having a Body Mass Index of over 45 are termed as super obese. Super obese people have increased risk during surgery. The chances of risk multiply with longer time under anesthesia. Gastric bypass surgery can last for two hours while duodenal switch surgery can last for more than 4 hours.

In order to avert risks, surgeons started dividing the procedure into two steps. While the first stage involved reducing the size of the stomach, the second stage was performed only after the patient has lost some weight. The second stage of the surgical procedure involved bypassing a section of the intestine so that it ended up absorbing lesser amount of food.

This led the surgeons to “brand” the first stage of the surgical procedure as just the first part of the duodenal switch- and the insurance companies were paying as well.

However, when patients came back for the second stage they had already lost so much weight that further treatment was not even necessary.

Other details

The popularity of gastric bypass depended largely on patiet feedback. Patients stated that they did not feel hungry at all. They had to be reminded to take their food. Other notable benefits of bariatric surgery sleeve are:

  • Shorter operation time
  • Reduction of hunger (in most of the patients – not all)
  • No chances of foreign objects being left in the body
  • No adjustment of band required (quite literally because it doesn’t entail a surgery)

The patient is asked to refrain from chewing gums and tobacco or from taking medicines that are not approved by the surgeon. The surgery may be cancelled if you fail to abide by any of these measures. Consult your surgeon for further details regarding pre-op and post-op diet.

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