Good morning all and Happy Thanksgiving ?! I am seriously considering having my esg procedure done with Dr. Sadek in NJ. I have only spoken to one other person who has done this particular procedure with him. His office has told me that he has performed over 200 esg procedures. So I would greatly appreciate if someone in this forum would tell me what he is like as a surgeon. The one thing I have discovered for sure while researching this is that the quality of your surgeon is extremely important to your success. If his office is telling the truth, then there should be a decent number of you out there who can please chime in. I thank you in advance.

I am scheduled to meet him as well for an appointment. Did you get any feedback on them yet?

Hi there. I have the esg procedure already scheduled with him on February 6. I started this topic so long ago that I gave up hope anyone would answer lol. Ive met with him and from the first and only meeting/ consultation I was cleared and scheduled.

As for feedback on him, I have only messaged one person on Facebook who has had the procedure done with him last September. She told me that she thought he was professional and a good doctor as far as she was concerned. Didn’t give him a 5 star rating necessarily but she did say he was well versed on the procedure.

As for my consultation with him, I asked him how many esgs he has performed and he told me approximately 40 at the time which was beginning of December. For sure that # has gone up and the more experience a doctor has performing this procedure the more skilled they are according to studies done on esg.

I chose him because he is the closest doctor to me who performs this, he has an impressive amount of experience in the field, and his price ($10,000) seemed reasonable compared to what others quoted me. I hope that helps. When is your appointment scheduled? I’m going to go back to see him again before my procedure for an explanation of the meds I need to take and for more clearer instructions on the day of and postop.

I looked for a surgeon with a lot of experience. The doctor I chose has been in bariatrics for about 15 years and currently does about 10 VSG's per week.

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1 minute ago, VSGnewguy said:

I looked for a surgeon with a lot of experience. The doctor I chose has been in bariatrics for about 15 years and currently does about 10 VSG's per week.

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Did you have the endoscopic sleeve done or the laparoscopic one? For those of us wanting to have the endoscopic sleeve done it’s difficult to find a surgeon with that much experience since this is a very new procedure.

Laproscopic.

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3 minutes ago, VSGnewguy said:

Laproscopic.

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Did you know about the endoscopic sleeve at the time and opt for the laparoscopic one? If you did why did you chose it over the endoscopic one? Sorry to ask so many questions but there are many others on this forum and on Facebook groups who are oscillating between the two procedures and would like to know why you choose the laparoscopic one. How is your weight loss?

Did you know about the endoscopic sleeve at the time and opt for the laparoscopic one? If you did why did you chose it over the endoscopic one? Sorry to ask so many questions but there are many others on this forum and on Facebook groups who are oscillating between the two procedures and would like to know why you choose the laparoscopic one. How is your weight loss?

I had only heard of ESG recently from someone who was considering after a regain post bypass. I guess I would be reluctant to be one of the first for a new procedure, preferring something proven longer term. I had my VSG this past Thursday so I'm just now beginning to see the weight loss. Took a couple of days to shed all the extra IV fluid weight. I am down almost 8lbs.

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Awesome results for only a few days! Good for you. I wish you continued success. I’m choosing esg because it not considered a surgical procedure. There is no cutting, same day procedure, and my BMI doesn’t qualify me for any other more proven one. I’m aware that the weight loss won’t be like the laparoscopic sleeve but for people with a BMI 30-35 who are tired of endless unsuccessful diets, this may be the right fit. With hard work on my part because yes I know any weight loss procedure is just a tool, I hope it will be my answer to reaching a healthy weight finally.

Hi. I’ve been all over waiting for someone to answer that same question.

Three years ago I went into his office requesting the ESG. He advised the Reshape balloon was a better option for me. I did the Reshape balloon and got it removed 6 months later. Same weight same all and $7000 out the window.

He did a gastric sleeve for my son and it wasn’t very successful. He advised to do the by pass, which was done in January 2020, and not a whole lot has happened.

I’m still thinking of giving a chance with the ESG but no one comes up saying they have and talking about their experience.

Let me know what you decide or if you know of anyone who’s performs it.

Thank you

I had an ESG October 2018, I had a gastric sleeve March 2020.

My ESG had some success initially, but then no longer felt any restriction, I put all the weight I had lost back on bar 5 kilos. An endoscope in February 2020, showed all but one or two of the sutures had come undone.

I had chosen the ESG initally because I liked the idea of a non surgical weight loss procedure in which the recovery time was reduced. With the benefit of a massive does of hindsight, I wish I had the sleeve back in Oct 18.

I had some discomfort with the sleeve, a different type of discomfort than the ESG but really the worse I could say about the recovery for the sleeve was a bad dose of contact dermatitis. I had rolling cramps for a few days with the ESG. I felt some type of cramp for a day or two with the sleeve when I swallowed liquid.

I could have gone back to work sooner than I did with the sleeve, but took the time offered by the doctor. I definitely feel more restriction than I ever did with the ESG.

Some people have had great success with the ESG, others not so much. They seem to fail for various reasons: overeating volumes allowed, lack of surgeon technique / knowledge and some fail for no apparent reason (sutures come undone regardless of excellent compliance or even good technique).

My gastric sleeve surgeon said there seems to be mounting evidence that at best the ESG should be considered a temporary measure for people who can't have surgery due to being serverely overweight and need to lose weight quickly for an operation. Like i said though there have been some people who have had good success with the ESG for a decent period of time.

I am a member of a few FB groups for ESG one of them is a group regarding ESG failure, a lot of active posters are from Australia where ESG failure seems to have a higher rate. ESG has only been in Australia for a few years so perhaps technique has a lot more to do with failures there.

Some points to ask when meeting with the person doing your ESG: Rate of success/failure/complications. Of the successes how many of them are still active patients....you don't know if someone who drops off their books after six or 12 months still has restriction. If your ESG fails will they rectify it free of charge? Will their technique prevent a conversion to a gastric sleeve if needed (most surgeons will convert to a bypass only). How many people didn't lose weight due to loss of restriction.

Thanks for responding. You’re reply was very helpful.

when I did the Reshape balloon it results were suppose to be at least 15% of ones weight. I didn’t lose anything and at the end he removed the balloons and say anything as to why they didn’t work.

I don’t have social media like fb, Twitter, instagram etc.

Edited May 11, 20206 yr by Maluma531

The average weight loss (percentage wise) for ESG is probably only a little higher than gastric balloons. If you have a lot of weight to lose an ESG is probably not a good option, that said, I have seen a few people with BMIs of 50 or more have success with the ESG.

If the ESG isn't covered by insurance where you are, I think your money would be better spent elsewhere.

It’s a lot of weight for me. I’m 5 ft 0 inches tall and 175 pds. I think my BMI is like 34. I also have a fatty liver and high triglycerides. I’m a total mess.

I’m very interested in getting the ESG would love more info if anyone has any

2 hours ago, JJ925 said:

I’m very interested in getting the ESG would love more info if anyone has any

I am in Australia so my experience may not be valid for the USA or UK (if that is where you are).

I had a failed ESG, I lost restriction and an endoscopy revealed that most of the sutures had come undone. I had revision to a (surgical) sleeve mid March.

There seems to be some success with ESG (in that the sutures have held and there is no loss of restriction) but I think a lot of that is due to surgeon experience and technique. There is also a number of failures where the sutures have come undone whether due to non compliance by the patient, lack of surgeon experience/technique, some people with bouts of bad vomiting (which caused the sutures to loosen) and some for no known reason.

While some people with a previoulsy very high BMI have had some success, If you have a BMI higher than 40, you would be better off with a surgical option in my personal opinion.

My sleeve surgeon says he currently considers the ESG as a temporary measure for anyone who needs to lose weight quickly for a urgent operation or prior to a more permanent weight loss surgery so that the patient's health has improved enough for them to undertake a longer procedure.

It seems that the medium to long term failure rate in Australia is higher than USA.

If you are serious about getting the ESG some questions to ask in your consult: How many ESGs they have done, what is the complication rate, failure rate and success rate one and two years out, is there an ongoing support program afterward, if the ESG failures due to no fault of your own is there a nil cost fix (should you want it),

Edited May 31, 20206 yr by Hop_Scotch