Laparoscopic Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy

For more information go to www.drpleatman.com. This video shows the vertical sleeve gastrectomy, a new option for surgical treatment of severe and morbid obesity. It does not require rerouting of the bowel, and is therefore safer than the gastric bypass. It has a very low complication rate; most patients can go home within 24 hours of the procedure.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• laparoscopic
• vertical
• sleeve
• gastrectomy
• bariatric
• surgery
• weight
• loss
• Pleatman

[CanadaIndieFilm]

I wonder if insurance will cover the cost of a procedure like this one.

[drpleatman]

@CanadaIndieFilm More insurance companies are covering this as we get more data documenting its effectiveness. In Michigan most insurance companies cover it, except for Medicare and Medicaid.

[drpleatman]

Thanks for your comments. Most patients stay for 2 days, though some do go home after one. Pain is rarely the cause of delayed discharge; usually it is prolonged nausea. I don't know why you had so much pain.

[TEISHASALON]

how much does the procedure cost?

[drpleatman]

Total cost is about $11,000.

[medicalbroadcast]

Very nice procedure. The only comment is the use of electrocautery right upon the staple line at the end of the procedure. Some people believe that this is not a safe technique because the current can travel along the metal staples causing tissue necrosis in this area with a following leak. I think that it would be better to cover this place by a running seromuscular suture with EndoStitch.

[drpleatman]

I understand your concern. I use bipolar cautery to reduce this risk. The current goes between the jaws of the instrument instead of through the patient's body to the grounding pad. I size the VSG with a 32 Fr. bougie, which makes the sleeve very narrow. Oversewing it might make it too narrow. Endostitch is a clever but expensive unnecessary gadget that would jack up the price of the surgery.

[ahmed200055]

good job

[phoenix320]

thank you so much, i am having this surgery in may and no matter how many articles i read, i still needed to know visually how it will go. I have a better understanding now thank you!

[TheLasalle17]

I had mine 2 months ago! Is a hard process, but 42 pounds lighter and NO more DM medicine! It's awesome! Thank God for this.

[DiRiK29]

I just had this done on March 10th and this video really helped me understand what was done. Very interested in knowing what size bougie my surgeon used.

[lidaifu36]

good job

[chachaleeroy]

I couldn't watch this until I had it done to me. I'm almost a week post op and just sat through the whole thing. Interesting...

[GastricSleeveDotCom]

Excellent demonstration, thank you Dr. Pleatman. We have a community for sleevers at our website gastricsleeve*com hope to see you there, please join our forum.

[KnightMD]

@statelinebristol The vast majority of the patients to have a fatty liver. We like to put our patients on a liquid only diet in an attempt to shrink the liver. Nonetheless, if I were to choose a video to put online, it would have a relatively healthy liver so the steps can be easily and clearly seen.

[statelinebristol]

First thing that got my attention was the "healthy liver". I was under the assumption that those of us having this done would have a fatty liver, yet that one looked good.

[cnacarlene]

absolutely amazing... I can't wait!!!