Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy
Patients who don't want to have a long-term implanted medical device now have another option with the sleeve gastrectomy.

Through five small incisions, each between one and two inches long, the surgeon removes approximately 70 percent of the stomach. This new stomach has a total capacity of just three to five ounces, which means patients feel full or satisfied after eating only two to four ounces of food.

The laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy has several advantages over the bypass:

• Because the normal flow of food through the GI tract is not altered, your risk of nutritional deficiences is greatly reduced.
• When the outer portion of the stomach is removed, so is the hunger hormone, Ghrelin. This significantly reduces your desire to eat.
• According to published medical data, weight loss with the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy can be 60 to 70 percent of excess weight at two years.
• Research shows 60 to 70 percent of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy patients maintain their weight loss six years following surgery.
• No long-term risk of gastric ulcers and internal hernias with the sleeve, yet those risks remain with gastric bypass. 

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