Sleeve Gastrectomy

The journey to a healthy new you starts at CHI Saint Joseph Health. Our surgeons specialize in a wide variety of weight loss surgery options, including sleeve gastrectomy (also called gastric sleeve). They usually perform the procedure laparoscopically, which means you may be home in as little as 48 hours and back to normal activities within a week.

Learn more below. Then view our free weight loss surgery seminar.

About Gastric Sleeve

During this procedure, your surgeon creates a thin, vertical sleeve of stomach using a stapling device, and removes the rest of the stomach (up to 85%). The sleeve is about the size of a banana, limiting the amount of food you can eat and helping you feel full sooner. It also allows for normal digestion and absorption; food passes through the digestive tract in the usual order, allowing it to be fully absorbed in the body.

Advantages

• Weight loss is faster than gastric banding, though slower than gastric bypass (roughly 50 percent loss in excess body weight in the first year)
• More rapid improvement in type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related conditions than gastric banding
• Less likely than bypass to result in vitamin, protein or mineral deficiency, but more likely than gastric banding
• Intermediate surgical risk, between gastric banding and bypass
• No dumping syndrome (nausea, vomiting, sweating, abdominal pain, diarrhea)
• May decrease hunger as the procedure removes most cells that produce Ghrelin (the ‘hunger hormone’)
• Highly effective as a first-stage procedure for higher BMI patients
• Very small incisions, which means less pain and very little scarring
• Procedure is covered by most insurance plans; please check with your provider

Disadvantages

• Stomach is cut, so there is a potential for leak
• Large portion of stomach is removed, making it irreversible; however, it can be converted to a gastric bypass or gastric banding
• Long-term results are unknown with a potential to "stretch out" the new stomach area with loss of restriction and weight gain