Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty Basics: What to Expect

What is endoscopic gastroplasty and how does it work?

Obesity has become an increasingly common disease, especially after trying to lose weight with conventional methods without success, as well as trying diets and exercises without achieving the expected results.

If you are overweight with a body mass index of 30 or more and your diet and exercise have not worked for you, this procedure may be an option.

In addition to being a type of minimally invasive intervention, endoscopic gastroplasty has an affordable price, which makes it a fairly profitable and safe procedure.

What is endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty?

Endoscopic gastroplasty offers the possibility of losing weight through a non-surgical procedure with a low price for patients, and a duration of approximately two hours.

This technique is carried out by health professionals, in which the state of the patient’s digestive tract is evaluated.
To do this, an endoscope and prepared instruments are used in order to reduce the size of the stomach with sutures without the need to undergo surgery.

I am a candidate for endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty?

To fully understand how a certain solution will work for you or how quickly you’ll lose weight as a result, you need to honestly assume how committed you are to the process. It’s also important to understand how you got to the current condition in order to learn the appropriate adjustments. If you are currently struggling with obesity and weight loss, you are not alone.

You must primarily pass a general medical evaluation to determine if this procedure is right for you. If you are considering endoscopic gastroplasty as a viable option, you must take into account a series of factors:

• BMI (body mass index) greater than 27%;
• You have gone through failed procedures to lose weight such as diets, medications, exercises or others;
• You have the desire and commitment to maintain healthy habits accompanied by a multidisciplinary team.

What risks does it prevent?

In addition to the obvious weight loss, endoscopic gastroplasty or endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty will help you reduce the appearance of related diseases, an example of which are:

• Type II diabetes;
• Joint pain (osteoarthritis);
• Blood pressure;
• Heart disease, and CVA (cerebrovascular accidents);
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis;
• Sleep problems.

In a large number of cases, this type of procedure, like weight loss surgeries, is recommended when no other method has resulted in the patient losing weight. Likewise, to maintain the results, you must have the commitment to include a healthy diet and exercise on a daily basis.

What does the procedure consist of?

Once the preoperative team has evaluated you, and you are considered fit for the procedure in the first place, the patient will be anesthetized and the intervention will begin.

An endoscope, a flexible tube that has an integrated camera, is used, as well as most importantly, the endoscopic suturing apparatus.

Using these instruments, the medical team will place the sutures in the stomach, changing its shape and thus reducing the consumption of calories.

This intervention is extremely short, it will last approximately one hour and a half to two hours, and after the postoperative evaluation, it is determined if the hospital process is necessary or if you will be able to return home the same day.

What is the price of endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty?

Like any intervention, the price includes not only crucial factors such as the quality, experience, and skills of the medical professionals involved in the procedure.

The gastric sleeve procedure can improve the quality of life for many patients struggling with obesity, including making daily activities easier. You can check our website to find out the price at our two locations, both our office in Puerto Rico and the price at our office in New York, USA.

Usually, the price of endoscopic gastroplasty is not covered by medical insurance, since it is an intervention that has been implemented for a short time.

Since it is a procedure related to your health, you should always verify that it is a team with verified quality, with all the necessary requirements.
Essentially, the license and verifiable experience to carry out the intervention of this type.

When will you see the results?

The first month after the intervention, is when you will see the most drastic weight change, which can be around 11 to 24 pounds, this is because you will be subjected to the diet excluding solid foods.

Once you have completed at least one year since having endoscopic gastroplasty, as long as you follow a healthy diet combined with exercise, you can lose at least 73 pounds.

Duration of results

There are no exact data on the duration of the procedure because it is a relatively new intervention; however, it is estimated that it lasts no less than 2 years.

We can include that the results will always be related to the commitment you have to change your habits by including a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Does endoscopic gastroplasty have any risk?

According to the records kept to date, endoscopic gastroplasty could be considered a fairly simple intervention.

Until now, as related risks, only those that are a consequence of being under the effects of anesthesia are known, some patients may present bleeding (<1%), leak (<1%), obstruction and injury to the esophagus, but it is counted with very few cases with those symptoms.

After the procedure, there is the possibility that the patient presents some discomfort in the throat, this is caused by the way in which this intervention is performed, which consists of inserting the endoscope directly down the throat.

On the other hand, because it is an intervention that has not been applied for much time by health professionals, and above all it is rare, there may still be a percentage, not very high, of its effectiveness and risk in a slightly longer period. ample of time.

How is the preparation

As long as you meet the requirements for the medical team to consider endoscopic gastroplasty as a viable procedure for you, you must follow a series of indications for your preparation process for this intervention.

First of all, you have to do some laboratory tests and exams that are required prior to surgery. Likewise, you should avoid some foods, drinks and even medications. For another, you should probably include a physical activity plan.

It is important for your optimal recovery that you plan as a partner or someone else to help you at home. The recovery process can take a few days, in general you will need one or two days to recover your rhythm of life.

What can you expect during the procedure?

The endoscopic gastroplasty procedure is outpatient, it is performed in the endoscopic unit, you will be under the effects of general anesthesia, so you will be unconscious during the intervention.

During this procedure, no incision is made in the abdomen, but everything is done through the endoscopic suture device.

Sutures are used to change the structure of the stomach and thus reduce it to a tube-like shape, reducing the amount of food you need to eat to feel satisfied.

After the procedure

Once the procedure is over, the medical staff will take you to the recovery room, where you will be monitored to check your progress and ensure that there are no complications.

In a large number of cases, patients can go home the same day, on the other hand, there are some patients who need at least one or two days of hospitalization.

For at least a couple of hours you will not be able to eat food, and after this start a liquid diet that you must follow for at least fifteen days. After this time you can add semi-solid foods to your diet, and then adapt your habits to a healthier diet, accompanied by exercises.

Results

In addition to helping to minimize the appearance of some diseases related to obesity, patients who undergo endoscopic gastroplasty will be able to lose at least 12% to 20% of their body weight in a time frame of at least one year.

To guarantee the satisfactory results of this intervention, like any weight loss program, it must be combined with the commitment to improve your eating habits, you must include regular physical activity

Is it a reversible procedure?

Being a procedure done with sutures, made of polypropylene material that does not fall apart, endoscopic gastroplasty is completely reversible.

How much recovery time do you need?

Once the endoscopic medical team has verified that your health is suitable, you will be discharged, but you will need at least a couple of days (at least 2 to 5 days) of complete inactivity for your recovery to be optimal.

When weight loss surgery doesn’t work…

There is a possibility with endoscopic gastroplasty, like any other medical procedure, that the patient may gain weight again, or not lose enough weight.

However, this usually occurs when there is no lifestyle change. In other words, the patient still does not make healthy changes in their diet or does not perform any type of exercise or constant physical activity.