With obesity continuing to increase in the West obesity surgery is becoming an everyday and routine type of surgery in most medical facilities.

The sleeve gastrectomy is a restrictive method of weight loss surgery in which in the region of 85 percent of the stomach is surgically removed leaving a sleeve shaped stomach with a substantially reduced capacity of somewhere between 60 and 150 cc. Unlike most other forms of weight loss surgery, the outlet valve and nerves to the stomach are left intact and, while the stomach is considerably reduced in size, its function is unaltered. Additionally, unlike other forms of bariatric surgery like the tried and tested Roux-en-Y gastric bypass the sleeve gastrectomy is not reversible.

As the newly created stomach continues to function normally there are many fewer restrictions on the foods which patients can eat after surgery, although the quantity of food consumed will be very noticeably reduced. Many patients see this as one of the chief advantages of the sleeve gastrectomy, together with the fact that the removal of the greater part of the stomach also results in the effective elimination of hormones that are produced in the stomach and which stimulate hunger.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of the vertical sleeve gastrectomy lies in the fact that it does not involve any bypass of the intestinal tract so that patients do not therefore experience the complications of intestinal bypass including intestinal obstruction, osteoporosis, anemia and protein deficiency. It also means that it is a fitting type of surgery for people who are already suffering from Crohn’s disease, anemia and a variety of other conditions that would put them at risk for intestinal bypass surgery.

Lastly, it is one of of only a few forms of bariatric which can be performed laparoscopically in patients who are particularly obese.

Perhaps the principal disadvantage of the sleeve gastrectomy lies in the fact that it does not always create the weight loss which patients would like and can lead to weight regain in the longer term. This is of course true of any type of purely restrictive weight loss surgery though it is possibly especially true of the vertical sleeve gastrectomy.

As the operation requires the stomach to be stapled patients are at risk from leaks and of other complications which are specifically related to stapling. Additionally, as with any surgical procedure, patients are at risk from complications including small bowel obstruction, post-surgical bleeding, pneumonia and even death. The chance of experiencing any of these complications is nonetheless very small and varies from about 0.5 and 1%. Having said this, the risk of dying from this type of operation at approximately 0 .25% is extremely small.

As a general rule the vertical gastrectomy is most suited to patients who are either particularly overweight or whose health rules out other forms of bariatric surgery. In the case of the first category of patient the vertical gastrectomy would generally form the first of a two-part weight loss plan, with further bariatric surgery being undertaken once the patient’s weight has dropped sufficiently to permit other forms of surgery to be carried out.

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GastricBypassFacts.info provides detailed information on the gastric sleeve and the sleeve gastrectomy with duodenal switch including detail of the duodenum function and the role of the jejunum tubes.