I had my surgeon appointment yesterday and he has been doing sleeves for a little over a year and has done 14. Just wondering how many others had done? Anxious to hear if anyone was the first for those of you farther out in the journey.

Also, have they had any deaths? If so, did that discourage you or did you look for a different surgeon?

My surgeon has had one death with a sleeve and it was a modified sleeve with several co-morbities and an extensive revision, open surgery.

I don't know. I have my 1st appt. with the surgeon in a couple weeks. I will ask then. I wouldn't necessarily be discouraged by your surgeon's numbers. Has he done other types of laparoscopic surgery? I would imagine if a doctor is experienced with other lap surgery that it wouldn't be so much different. He explained that the death was because of complications with a revision and other things. You don't have those problems right? I have the impression that the sleeve is a quite simple procedure as far as surgery goes. But that's just from hearing them talk at seminars and watching stuff on the web. If you feel comfortable with him I wouldn't worry too much.

Hi, At the time of my first consult back in Feb. he said he had done only 5 sleeves - but has extensive work with the lap-band- He said that from a surgery stand point the Sleeve was a lot easier to do - and he has another dr in there that has done more- but I didn't ask about their numbers- he didn't say he had any problems with them - just that the surgery was easier to perform than the band and he has done that for several years- over 1000 or more- Also - he said a lot of surgeons in the US have waited to do this procedure because they wanted to see more results over long term and make sure it was a good surgery for their patients.

Hello MeMeMEEE;

Hate to say this but your surgeons mortality rate on sleeve surgery is way above national average for bariatric surgeons. But I like that he is honest about that.

My surgeon has been peforming this surgery since 2003 as WLS, previous to that sleeve was used as a help for those who had gastro/intestinal issues such as cancer. Dr. Q's record is stellar - with over 14 years of WLS, including groundbreaking such as perfoming the first laproscopic weight loss surgery in US - (took 11 hours for a gastric bypass over 10 years ago since no one had ever attempted) First band placement in US. First spider (scarless) VSG in US. His saftey record is well below all national averages. Number of VSG is significant but others surgeons do have a higher number of sleeves performed. Anyhow...

If it were me, I would find someone with more experience and a better safety record (7.3% death rate).

Good luck in what ever your decision!

To answer the co-morbidities - I really have none - my weight is my only issue, outside of migraines controlled with Inderal.

Also my surgeon is a specialist in advanced laproscopic surgery and has been performing minimally invasive bariatric procedures since the 1990's (ha can you tell that is straight from the website?). In that time he has had 2 deaths - the sleeve one and an RNY who had a blood clot after she was home, which of course can happen in any surgery.

To answer the co-morbidities - I really have none - my weight is my only issue, outside of migraines controlled with Inderal.

Also my surgeon is a specialist in advanced laproscopic surgery and has been performing minimally invasive bariatric procedures since the 1990's (ha can you tell that is straight from the website?). In that time he has had 2 deaths - the sleeve one and an RNY who had a blood clot after she was home, which of course can happen in any surgery.

Yep I don't know of any deaths- of mine- and he has done 5 of the sleeve surgeries- an blood clots are out of the control of the doctor- and like you said before if that one patient had several things already going wrong in their body- sometimes its to much- I would say if ya have prayed about it and feel comfortable in his knowledge and good about everything- then you should stay with him-

Right before they wheeled me into surgery, I asked my surgeon how many sleeves he had done. He told me 7 or 8! I kinda knew that would be his answer. When I met him, he said he hadn't done many, but he had done thousands of WLS and tons of them were bands. He told me the sleeve was easier and if he had done a thousands bands, he had done a thousand sleeves. So, that is the answer he gave me. Wasn't sure what to think of it really. Also, for my surgery, he had to have another surgeon in there to proctor him. He was new to the hospital I was at and that was why. You have to have a proctor for your first several surgeries.

Dr. Aceves has done over a thousand sleeves and has been doing them for years. He does proctor other doctors as well as goes around teaching surgeons to do the VSG.

I think I was number 14 or 15 for my surgeon who has done thousands (!!) of bands and bypasses. He is an extremely skilled laproscopic surgeon and I had 100% faith that he would do an excellent job. He did say the sleeve was much much easier than a bypass, not sure about the band (easier or not?) He has now sleeved both myself and my husband, so yeah, we went based on his knowledge, years of experience and that fact that he let us choose which WLS was best for us and never pushed us one direction or another.

The surgeon I went to in Atlanta didn't give me an exact number but stated that he'd done hundred's so far. He no longer does the lap band as the failure rate is too high. Early on, he did have one sleeve patient that had a leak and has since modified his procedure. No deaths! That was good by me.

My surgeon's done over 400 sleeves. Only 1 case resulted in a leak that needed more surgery.