Bariatric Surgery: Gastric Sleeve Rising in Popularity
| Date Posted: 9/26/2012 | Author: Mandy McCue
If eating healthy and exercise has proven to be unsuccessful in helping you reach your weight-loss goals, weight-loss surgery may be another option. Weight-loss surgery has been proven to help lose weight and as a result, improve your overall health. To be a candidate for bariatric surgery you must have a BMI of 30 or higher paired with co-morbidities. To check you BMI and to further learn about the procedure guidelines please go to ncweightlosssurgery.org.
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital offers a variety of weight loss options including weight-loss surgery. We offer three different kinds of surgery Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, adjustable gastric band, and a gastric sleeve procedure. For some time, the Roux-en-Y procedure has been the most popular surgery procedure due to the rapid weight loss that follows surgery. More recently, however, the gastric sleeve has emerged has the surgery of choice for many weight-loss surgery patients.
Raymond Washington, M.D., medical director of the Bariatric Center at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, believes there will ultimately come a time when gastric sleeve procedures will surpass gastric bypass surgeries as the number one type of weight-loss surgery.
“Over the past five years, gastric bypass and Lap-Band surgeries have gotten most of the attention in the media,” Dr. Washington says. “But, in the last year, data has shown great results comparable or better with sleeve surgery, with less concern about nutritional deficits and long-term complications.”
The gastric sleeve was first developed as a first step procedure for extremely obese people for whom gastric bypass surgery was too risky. Extremely obese people are classified by a BMI of 60 or higher. The gastric sleeve is a minimally invasive approach that had fewer complications and a faster recovery time then gastric bypass surgery. Surgeons began to notice patients were losing similar amounts of weight as patients who had undergone gastric bypass so they started to dig a little deeper.
A three-year case-controlled study that ended in 2009 found that minimally invasive gastric sleeve surgery compared favorably to minimally invasive Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in terms of surgical results, weight loss and resolution of co-morbidities. (Source: FirstHealth of the Carolinas)
The gastric sleeve weight loss option isn’t right for everyone. It is important to speak with a surgeon about your health and surgical history to determine what the best weight-loss surgery is for you. To learn more about other weight-loss options and which one might be best for you, attend one of our free bi-monthly weight-loss surgery seminars.
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in partnership with Pinehurst Surgical Center provides weight loss treatments to patients in the Pinehurst, Raeford, Sanford, Rockingham, Lumberton, Laurinburg, and Troy regions of North Carolina and beyond.
