What is the Safest Weight Loss Surgery?

Vertical sleeve gastrectomy is considered one of the safest bariatric surgeries available today. Learn more about this procedure as well as other options for long-term weight loss.

What is the Safest Weight Loss Surgery?

Vertical sleeve gastrectomy is the most widely used and safest in the bariatric world. As with any major surgery, gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries pose potential health risks, both in the short and long term. No device is implanted with the gastric sleeve, and patients experience fewer food intolerances than with gastric band.

Faster weight loss

than gastric band is also possible, and it is suitable for teenagers from 14 years old.

Rapid weight loss due to gastric bypass has been observed, with resolution of diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and coronary artery disease. Increased weight loss compared to gastric band has been reported, but some former patients with gastric bypass have regained weight. Patients who did not lose weight after gastric bypass can undergo a procedure without incision to return the stomach pouch to the size achieved after gastric bypass. A small, flexible endoscope is inserted through the mouth for endoscopic plication or a gastric balloon procedure.

This is the simplest and safest procedure for bariatric surgeries, but weight loss is lower than in other surgeries. People with a gastric band are more likely to regain weight in the long term due to no effect on nutrient absorption. Gastric sleeve, a newer surgery, has become the most popular weight loss procedure today. With this surgery, we remove about 80% of your stomach, leaving it as a long and thin bag or “sleeve”.

One of the most common endoscopic weight-loss procedures is the gastric balloon, which places a silicone balloon on the stomach to increase the volume and reduce space in your stomach so you eat less. Because your intestines aren't affected, a sleeve gastrectomy doesn't affect how your body absorbs food, so you're not as likely to run short on nutrients. Unlike the adjustable gastric band, gastric bypass is generally considered irreversible but can be reversed in exceptional cases. The study found that gastric bypass surgery boasts the greatest weight loss, both in the short and long term; however, that procedure also had the highest complication rates in the month after surgery.

It results in faster weight loss, but the risks of hernias, nutrient deficiency and rapid emptying syndrome are higher. While diet and exercise can help maintain a healthy weight, some people find it difficult to lose weight with these methods alone. UC San Diego Health's Bariatric and Metabolic Institute Offers Multiple Bariatric Surgery Options for Long-Term Weight Loss. The intragastric balloon is not indicated for people who have had weight-loss surgery or who have bowel disease or liver failure; however, if necessary once they have lost weight and their health has improved usually after 12 to 18 months they can undergo a second surgery such as a gastric bypass.

Patients typically lose about 20 percent of their body weight with this procedure which has more predictable results than a gastric balloon. For people with other conditions such as type 2 diabetes high blood pressure and heart disease losing weight can be critical. You are considerably overweight and until now you have not been able to make changes in your habits to lose weight. Experts point out that endoscopic weight-loss procedures are an excellent choice between medications and surgery with better results than medications but that they are less invasive than surgery and carry fewer side effects and risks.

Patients typically lose about 16 percent of their body weight during the initial one-year treatment period. For the average person in this study there was a 19-pound weight loss difference between bypass and sleeve procedures after five years. Obesity is a major health problem worldwide and bariatric surgery provides the most significant and sustained weight loss solution for obese patients. Depending on several health factors you're generally eligible for weight-loss surgery if your body mass index (BMI) is 35 or higher or 30 or higher if you have complications from obesity such as diabetes or coronary heart disease.

At the Johns Hopkins Digestive Weight Loss Center minimally invasive techniques offer some alternatives to surgery.