My boyfriend brought this to my attention today. He said it was on yahoo. Wasn't sure what kind of surgery it was, or what it was called so i just googled it and it said its the sleeve...... THROUGH THE MOUTH???? has anyone heard of this????

A new type of weight loss surgery was preformed at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. This new type of bariatric surgery removes a section of the patients stomach though their mouth.

The bariatric procedure called sleeve gastrectomy, which is also known as gastric sleeve, sections off a part of the stomach and permanently removes up to 80 percent of the stomach. With bariatric surgeries, the stomach size is reduced which makes the patient eat less and feel fuller faster.

A common approach doctors have been preforming the gastric sleeve procedure had the doctor make an incision in the stomach to remove the sectioned off stomach tissue. But with this new technique for bariatric surgery, the surgeon can remove the patients stomach tissue through their mouth.

The patient, who had the surgery in August 2010, is reportedly recovering well. In the one-hour procedure, the surgeon employed a combination of techniques, including laparoscopic and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery. Using the laparoscopic technique, the surgeon made five minimal incisions in the abdomen, through which cameras and other instruments were inserted, allowing the surgeon to divide the stomach into sections, and then close it with staples. Following the laparoscopic portion of the procedure, an endoscope was inserted into the stomach through the mouth, and the divided segment of the stomach was removed.

The benefits to using the surgical method that allows surgeons to go through the mouth to remove the stomach sections, instead of through wide incisions are numerous. The approach causes less trauma to the abdomen region, lowers risks of developing a hernia and causes less post operative pain for the patient.

At the Center for the Treatment of Obesity at the University of California San Diego, where the surgery was preformed, surgical options for minimally invasive bariatric surgery are evolving. In the future, the purpose of this type of bariatric surgery is to assist morbidly obese patients to achieve long term weight loss goals, leave few scars and involve as few surgical devices as possible.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5439350

Sounds like a different twist to it. Some Doctors try new things. Havent heard of this.

Wow wish this was my doctor doing it this way! I would love the possibilities of less trauma, hernia, or pain, and recovery!

Do you mean they still make the incisions to place cameras, but instead of using one bigger incision to remove the stomach, they remove it through endoscopy?

They showed the portion of my stomach that was removed to my parents. My parents said it was quite a big piece. I wonder what kind of effect it would have on my throat to remove my stomach through endoscopy.

BUT if, like they say, the trauma is minimal, I really hope they do more experimental surgeries and bring this technique mainstream.

It's called the NOTES technique. It's been around for a few years and the technique is used for other surgeries besides the sleeve gastrectomy. There isn't much research out there, so it hasn't been proven to be a less invasive technique. It takes many studies, many patients, and a long time to prove something. Also, there are disadvantages because of complications. Most surgeons are learning to do single incision laparoscopic surgery or SILS instead. All trocars and removal of the stomach are done through a single incision.

Using the laparoscopic technique, the surgeon made five minimal incisions in the abdomen, through which cameras and other instruments were inserted, allowing the surgeon to divide the stomach into sections, and then close it with staples. Following the laparoscopic portion of the procedure, an endoscope was inserted into the stomach through the mouth, and the divided segment of the stomach was removed.

The benefits to using the surgical method that allows surgeons to go through the mouth to remove the stomach sections, instead of through wide incisions are numerous. The approach causes less trauma to the abdomen region, lowers risks of developing a hernia and causes less post operative pain for the patient.

This almost sounds like the exact procedure used for the sleeve, except that our stomach is removed through one of those "five minimal incisions in the abdomen". My surgeon made those minimal incisions for his instruments, then a endoscope (bougie size anyone?) was inseted into the stomach to guide the dissection of the stomach, but the removed portion of the stomach was removed through the incision on the left side of my abdomen.

It almost sounds like someone describing a typical sleeve surgery...but I can't wrap my head around how the stomach tissue could be removed through the mouth.

I have heard of the gastric balloon being inserted through the mouth but this is great, the more minimally invasive the better!

yea i'm not sure. Thats one artical of many, you can google it. I was thinking...how the heck would they remove the stomach through the mouth.....without us choking to death? lol I imagine the stomach being pretty large since they're removing a large percentage of it. Just wanted to see if anyone else had heard of it. Not sure if the artical he saw was the sleeve or another procedure. ill have to see if he can find it for me later and ill read it and share.