Santiago Horgan UCSDReducing excess weight is one of the major obstacles in a battle against obesity. Surgeons from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have apparently developed a unique weight loss procedure called as a sleeve gastrectomy that decreases the stomach to 20 percent of its original size. This reduction is probably done by excluding excess stomach through the mouth instead of a large open incision.

Claimed to be a novel procedure, the researchers describe it as a hybrid laparoscopic and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). The entire procedure may take one hour and requires five tiny incisions to be made in the abdomen, so that surgeons are able to partially remove and close the mouth. Small ports can seemingly enable cameras and instruments to enter the abdomen. These ports can be possibly employed to position staples for closing the stomach without causing any harm.

“The number of options for minimally invasive weight loss surgery is rapidly evolving. Our goal is to offer patients a customized long-term solution for losing weight with as few scars as possible, and if desired, no medical devices,” enlightened Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery and director for the UCSD Center for the Treatment of Obesity.

According to the scientists, patients are able to lose almost 2-4 pounds every week after the surgery. Since 80 percent of the stomach can possibly be removed through the mouth, trauma developed on the abdomen can be declined. The procedure is claimed to be conducted with only small incisions. So there is no large open incision to be made and the risk of hernia can thus be averted. Even patients may be subjected to comparatively very less pain after undergoing this novel procedure. From here on scientists anticipate weight loss surgeries to be conducted without scars.