Gastric Sleeve Surgery

How Does it Work?

Gastric sleeve surgery

Gastric sleeve surgery or sleeve gastrectomy is a weight loss surgery procedure that removes up to 85% of a patient’s stomach. What is left is a sleeve-like stomach that can only hold small amounts of food. This makes patients feel fuller faster, consume fewer calories and lose weight fast.

Procedure Details

Gastric sleeve surgery utilizes the component of restriction to stimulate weight loss. By removing a significant portion of the stomach, patients restrict food intake and reduce hunger hormones (ghrelin).

This new sleeve holds small amounts of food, which limits the calories an individual consumes. The patient feels full faster and has an overall loss of appetite. Recovery time is generally two to three weeks with a 2-day hospital stay.

The procedure itself makes patients lose their sense of appetite. However, regular meals are important to ensure proper nutrition. Recovery time is generally two to three weeks with a two-day hospital stay.

The New "Sleeve" Stomach

What’s left is a 3 or 4-ounce capacity stomach, shaped in a “sleeve.” This new stomach can only hold 3 or 4 ounces of food at a time, which forces patients to feel fuller quicker and stay satisfied longer.

This significantly reduced stomach capacity induces patients to eat only 800 to 1,000 calories per day. Although 800 to 1,000 calories does not seem like a lot of food per day – most patients won’t even notice it.

Results

Gastric sleeve surgery, or VSG, is the most popular bariatric procedure today. It has grown exponentially because of its effective weight loss results and low complication rate.

Patients can expect to lose on average of 60% to 70% of excess weight within the first year.