Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, or ESG for short, is an innovative and still relatively new type of obesity treatment capable of reducing the size of the stomach without the need for surgical intervention. The fact that there are no incisions and wounds involved in the procedure makes it significantly safer and less risk-prone than in the case of traditional open surgeries or even laparoscopic procedures. This results in a much shorter recovery time and enables patients to go back to their normal life even one day after their surgery as long as they avoid exerting themselves excessively.
Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty: What Does the Procedure Involve?
It’s a minimally invasive procedure performed under general anaesthesia. The stomach reduction is achieved by inserting an endoscope with a camera and a suturing device into the stomach through the throat. Once inside the organ, the surgeon sutures part of the stomach giving it a sleeve-like shape and a much smaller capacity compared to its pre-surgery size.
How Is Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty Different From Sleeve Gastrectomy?
While most bariatric surgeries are available only to patients suffering from morbid obesity or obesity combined with health issues resulting from excess weight, ESG can be used both as a treatment and prevention method during the early stages of obesity. Even patients with a BMI of 27 can be considered good candidates for this procedure.
Another important difference can be observed in the length of the recovery period. Other than being careful with strenuous physical activities, being active and exercising after undergoing an endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty procedure is actually encouraged to promote effective weight loss. Due to the minimal invasiveness of ESG, complications are rare, and post-operative discomfort is usually limited to nausea and vomiting, and even then such side effects are experienced only by some patients.
There’s no denying that patients are usually most interested in the results they can expect from their chosen procedure. And it is precisely this issue that is especially worth considering as far as the differences between endoscopic and laparoscopic stomach reduction are concerned. While ESG is less invasive than LSG, it’s also less effective. Why? During laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery, a large part of the stomach is removed, resulting not only in the reduced size of the organ but also a lowered level of ghrelin, often referred to as the hunger hormone. The results of the ESG procedure, on the other hand, are limited to reducing the capacity of the stomach without physically removing any parts of the organ, thus leaving the ghrelin levels intact.
ESG is a non-surgical and entirely reversible method of stomach reduction used by patients who require medical help with battling obesity or preventing it from progressing further. It offers undeniable benefits such as effective excess weight reduction, low risk of complications and quick recovery time, and it’s definitely one of the treatment options worth considering.