With sleeve gastrectomy, patients lose about 60-70 percent of excess weight within 18 months after surgery.
How does the Gastric Sleeve surgery work?
- Hormonal changes such as reduced secretion of hunger hormones cause people to feel less hungry
- Increased stomach motility, which allows food to pass stomach and intestine quicker after surgery
Surgery and Recovery
- Surgery takes about one hour
- One- to two-day hospital stay
- Two- to four-week recovery period
- Most patients go back to work and/or school after 2-4 weeks — Fatigue is common the first 2 weeks due to low calorie intake from liquid diet. However, the majority of patients do not feel hungry during this stage of the diet. The energy level improves quickly after the introduction of the soft diet, which is approximately 2 weeks after surgery.
Benefits
- Quick weight loss — patients can lose about 60 to 80 percent of their expected weight lost within 24 months after surgery.
- Does not create malabsorption (the inability to absorb certain sugars, fats, proteins or vitamins from food).
Risks
- Suture-line leakage may occur
- Sleeve gastrectomy surgery may cause bleeding
- Blood Clot
- Heartburn —In our experience, most patients with heartburn before surgery see improvement of symptoms after surgery due to weight loss. Some patients may develop new heartburn, which is treatable with over-the-counter anti-acid medications, in most cases.
- Nausea may occur
- Sleeve gastrectomy may cause vitamin B12 deficiency
- Weight Regain — After 1-2 years, slight weight regain is common among all bariatric procedures and about 10-20% of patients can have significant weight regain after gastric sleeve surgery. After 5 years of follow up, many centers collected data to show that the majority of patients can maintain their weight loss after the Gastric Sleeve Surgery.
- Excess skin, in some cases, insurance will cover excess skin removal.
Other Considerations
- Not reversible
- No “dumping” syndrome (where large amounts of sugar would cause diarrhea and sweating)
- Vitamins recommended (B12)
- No medication restrictions
- Liquid diet for one month