The Gastric Sleeve or Sleeve Surgery
How Is It Done?
Vertical sleeve gastrectomy is also known as parietal gastrectomy, or simply Gastric Sleeve or the Sleeve Surgery in Lebanon. It is done by laparoscopy. During surgery, which takes almost an hour, Dr Safa creates a tiny, banana-shaped stomach by removing approximately 85% of the stomach. Following the sleeve surgery, weight loss results from eating less due to the much smaller stomach. Another contributor to weight loss is the fact that the part of the stomach which produces Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is removed.
What Are The Benefits?
- High Blood Pressure
- Sleep Apnea
- Asthma
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Abnormal Cholesterol/Lipid Levels
- Acid Reflux
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Urinary Stress Incontinence
- Skin Fold Dermatitis
- Lower Back Pain
- Arthritis involving weight-bearing joints like the hips, knees, ankles and feet
Sleeve Surgery Video
What Are The Risks Involved?
- Post gastric sleeve surgery, you tend to eat less food than normal, resulting in a lower level of consumption in vitamins, minerals and iron, which might lead to a deficiency of these nutrients. Additionally, a reduced intake in Calcium has caused metabolic bone disease among a few patients, thereby resulting in bone pain, loss of height, humped back and fractures of bones and ipbones.
- Vitamin B12 deficiency occurrence is a chance, leading to chronic anemia.
- However, the deficiencies listed above can be taken care of and avoided, by monitoring adequate diet and vitamin supplements.
- Insufficient weight loss and the likelihood of switching to a different procedure can result in the requirement of an additional surgery.
Choosing the Hospital
- LEBANON, at the Bellevue Medical Center (BMC) or at Hayek Hospital.
- CANADA, at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal (Université de Montréal) or the RocklandMD Surgery Center.
If you are candidate for Weight Loss Surgery, and wish to know which surgery is best for you, fill out the Patient Questionnaire, and our team will help you decide.
Check this to compare the four main types of weight loss surgery.
Read more on the gastric sleeve surgery by Dr Nagi Safa
How is the gastric sleeve done?
To perform the sleeve gastrectomy, Dr. Nagi Safa initially makes five small incisions in the abdomen that serve as entry points for the laparoscopic equipment. As he watches on a monitor, he removes about 85% of the stomach, leaving a narrow, banana-shaped stomach. The procedure takes about one hour to complete.
How does the gastric sleeve make you lose weight?
After having the gastric sleeve surgery, the patient will feel full after eating a small amount of food and will continue to feel full for many hours after each meal. According to research and statistics, during the first post-operative year, patients can lose up to 70% of their excess weight.
Does the gastric sleeve have any other benefits?
In addition to weight loss, the most crucial benefit of the gastric sleeve surgery is the considerable reduction of the risk of death. Studies have also shown that the gastric sleeve offers several other benefits. More than 75% of gastric sleeve patients have had major improvement or elimination of the most common obesity-related medical problems:
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Sleep apnea
- High cholesterol levels
- Acid reflux
- Urinary stress incontinence or involuntary urine loss
- Dermatitis
- Joint pain
- Arthritis in joints that support body weight
What are the possible side effects of the gastric sleeve?
The possible side effects of laparoscopic procedures are applicable in the laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery. These risks include infection of the wounds, bleeding, or injury to other organs. Another possible side effect is a leakage from the suture line (where the surgeon sews the stomach). However, these complications happen in less than 1% of all surgeries. In general, the gastric sleeve has more chances of complication than the gastric band and gastric plication, but less chances than the gastric bypass.
Can I have the gastric sleeve surgery?
The gastric sleeve can be the surgery of choice for you if your BMI is between 40 and 50, or if your BMI is between 30 and 40 and you suffer from obesity-related health issues such as diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension, and sleep apnea. The gastric sleeve can also be used as one of several steps of a surgical intervention to lose weight. For example, patients whose BMI is higher than 50 may require a sleeve gastrectomy followed by a duodenal switch about a year later in order to achieve maximum weight loss. However, make sure to talk to your weight loss surgeon about all possible types of surgery and get the most information you can before deciding on which procedure to undergo.