New Oral Weight Loss Surgery – Hope for Obese Patients
A new form of oral weight loss surgery is going under intensive testing. During the last 18 months doctors have seen promising results. This new surgical procedure doesn’t leave any scars, incisions and there is no pain involved.
How does it work?
The doctors insert a thick tube down the patient’s throat. Once it reaches the stomach, doctors use a camera located inside the tube to put staples into the patient’s stomach and will insert a bypass.
How does it compare to other weight loss surgeries?
There is a very big difference. With normal lap band or gastric bypass surgeries, patients need a foot long incision through 8-10 inches of their tissue before the doctors able to staple their stomach. And the operation is about 10 hours long. The patient has to stay for about 4-5 days in the hospital and won’t able to work for a month.
The new oral weight loss surgery will require only 1 day from the patient. Next day he or she can be back at work. This is great news for those who need weight loss surgery.
Is this surgery risk free?
It has been only tested on European patients so far. During the last 18 months patients have lost on average over 45% of their body weight. This is very promising. The only problem is the procedure itself. Doctors are concerned with the chances that the patients esophagus’s may be perforated from the tubing. For this reason until the procedure gains federal approval in the US, doctors won’t recommend it.
