Understanding Obesity and Sleeve Gastric Surgery for Weight Loss

  Obesity not only affects aesthetics, but also leads to a series of related diseases that can seriously affect health. For those who are severely obese, the bariatric surgeries that have been carried out more frequently are laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, and the patients’ weight can be significantly reduced after the surgery. When the patient’s weight is reduced, many complications caused by obesity will be alleviated or improved, but scientific postoperative diet and exercise management should be carried out in cooperation, only then can the weight loss effect be lasting.  Sleeve gastric surgery The full name of sleeve gastric surgery for weight loss is laparoscopic gastric reduction surgery, also known as sleeve gastrectomy. The principle of gastric reduction surgery is to use the laparoscope to cut out the large curve of the stomach vertically, so that the stomach forms a small gastric sac of about 150cc, which can hold about 4-5 ounces of food. It has the advantage of not requiring the placement of foreign objects in the body and the procedure is remarkably effective for weight loss.  Method: 2-6 cm of the sinus above the pylorus is preserved in the direction of the greater curvature of the stomach, and the greater part of the stomach is removed along the long axis of the stomach, and the entire fundus is removed, leaving a “banana-shaped” stomach with a volume of about 60-80 ml.  Principle: To reduce the volume of the stomach and decrease the secretion of hormones that stimulate the production of hunger.  Advantages: It does not change the physiological state of the gastrointestinal tract and does not interfere with the normal process of digestion and absorption of food.  Evaluation: Sleeve gastrectomy has a good therapeutic effect on type 2 diabetes and is a widely used surgery for weight loss and diabetes in Europe at present.  Generally, obese patients who have done sleeve gastrectomy for weight loss can lose 8-12 pounds within one week after surgery, and lose 60 pounds in 3 months on average. And as long as the obese patient weight loss to the standard range will not be lost again, once the surgery can maintain the standard weight for life without rebound.