Gastric Sleeve Surgery in Tijuana, Mexico
Gastric Sleeve Surgery, also called Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG), is one of the most innovative types of weight loss surgeries performed in Tijuana, Mexico and the most popular option worldwide. In the gastric sleeve procedure, the size of the stomach is significantly reduced – resulting in reduced hunger and feeling full faster.
The distinct advantage of the gastric sleeve procedure is the preservation of patient’s anatomy while reducing obesity-related diseases, improving health, and longevity. Gastric sleeve surgery in Tijuana, Mexico has a proven track record to produce effective, significant, and sustained weight-loss while being one of the safest, less-costly, and less-invasive weight loss procedures today.
The gastric sleeve changes the body’s metabolic thermostat that results in rapid, effective, and long-term weight loss. It restricts the amount of food intake and reduces the hunger hormones by removing a large portion of the stomach.
- The restriction formed in the stomach takes less food to fill up and results in less calorie intake.
- By reducing the hunger hormones you do not feel as hungry.
It also has the following by-products:
- You will eat less food because your brain gets the signal that you are full and satisfied.
- Speeds up your digestion process and metabolic thermostat.
What to Expect
This procedure is performed laparoscopically under general anesthesia, using 3-5 small incisions in the abdomen. You can expect to stay in the hospital for two days.
Patients can expect to lose an average of 70% of their excess weight in the first year. The gastric sleeve has a variety of health benefits – including improving or curing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and joint problems. Mexico Bariatric Center (MBC) patients who have had this procedure have experienced impressive results that helped resolve many diseases and illnesses associated with obesity.
Why Choose Gastric Sleeve?
Gastric sleeve patients report successful weight loss with minimal digestion problems compared to other types of weight loss surgeries. Other advantages include:
- There are no foreign objects placed within the body, like with the gastric band.
- Since it is a purely restrictive procedure, it avoids an occurrence of malabsorption problems present in other types of surgeries like gastric bypass.
- Since the remaining part of the stomach is composed of less elastic tissue, the likelihood of stretching and failing in the ensuing years is minimal.
- Gastric sleeve surgery can be easily revised into another surgery, such as the re-sleeve, gastric bypass, and duodenal switch.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery Duration and Hospital Stay in Mexico
This procedure usually takes about 1.5 hours (start to end) with 30 min to 60 min for the actual surgery, depending on the anatomic variation of the patient as well as the skills and experience of the surgeon. The patient is required to stay in the hospital for one night – but to ensure fewer complications and fast recovery we keep our patients for two nights. Healing is relatively fast, in fact, patients who have had sleeve gastrectomy usually return to work after only two to three weeks following their surgery.
Gastric sleeve weight loss depends strongly on following the post-op diet and living a healthy lifestyle after surgery. Other variables that impact losing weight are age, physical activity, diabetes, medication (e.g. bipolar disorder), smoking, and genetics. Some patients are extremely respondent; weight loss comes to them effortlessly and they are able to reach ideal body weight. For other patients, the weight loss is harder and patients do not lose as much.
- 3 months: 25-35% excess weight loss*
- 6 months: 45-55% excess weight loss*
- 12 months: 65-70% excess weight loss*
- 18 months: 70-75% excess weight loss*
Gastric sleeve in Mexico has quickly become the top choice for travelers crossing the border for medical services. Mexico Bariatric Center offers one of the lowest prices in the medical tourism industry while maintaining high-quality standards. Our facilities are strategically located in prominent areas of Tijuana (Zona Rio) close to the border of U.S. and Mexico.
Our all-inclusive packages provide transparent pricing are the first choice for patients suffering from obesity. We have also partnered with several financing firms for those individuals seeking payment plans and to defer payments.
During gastric sleeve surgery. the surgeon removes up to 85% of the greater curvature of your stomach laparoscopically, making it look like a tube or sleeve, thus the name “sleeve” gastrectomy.
The Surgical Steps
- The patient is lying with the face up with the arms spread apart.
- General anesthesia is administered by the anesthesiologist and a breathing tube (endotracheal tube) inserted into the windpipe.
- The surgeon makes small incisions (normally 5) in the abdomen to access the abdominal cavity.
- Trocars or hollow steel tubes are then placed through the incisions as a passageway for surgical instruments.
- The abdomen is filled with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas to separate the stomach wall from the small intestine.
- The surgeon inserts a probe equipped with a built-in specialized camera (laparoscope) along with other small pencil-like surgical instruments.
- The liver is gently pushed aside with a retractor.
- The greater curvature is released starting from the antrum to approximately two inches of the pylorus.
- The surgeon then finds and closes any Hiatal hernias if present to prevent Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
- The endoscopic cutter/stapler then cuts and staples the stomach shut along the bougie inserted through the mouth as a guide.
These are the 4 steps of our procedure:
- First, three lines of brand name, like Johnson & Johnson or Covidien, Titanium staples (Tri-Staple) to close the new smaller stomach pouch.
- Second, a suture line after the staples is performed along the staple line (Inverted Gastric Sleeve or Double-Butress Gastric Sleeve), to make sure no stomach leakage takes place.
- We perform three leak tests per patient. Two leak tests are performed the day of your surgery with blue dye and air. The next day we perform the last leak test, called a Fluoroscopy. Fluoroscopy is much like an X-ray movie that traces a special colored dye through the new stomach to detect any possible leak.
- MBC surgeons leave a drain in the abdominal cavity as a precaution for early detection of a leak.
Health Benefits of Gastric Sleeve Surgery
The benefits of sleeve gastrectomy go beyond simply having better looks and fast weight loss. For patients having trouble with weight, sleeve gastrectomy offers an opportunity to feel better as well as live longer and be more productive due to significantly reduced risks of acquiring any obesity-related conditions as a result of surgery.
The health benefits of gastric sleeve surgery are diverse and substantial. Obesity-related issues are resolved, along with a number of health problems. The comorbidities that are improved along with the affordable price make gastric sleeve surgery in Tijuana, Mexico a viable option for everyone.
- Asthma and Breathing Issues
- Type II Diabetes
- Headaches and Migraines
- High Cholesterol and Blood Pressure
- Infertility and PCOS Syndrome
- GERD and Acid Reflux
- Sadness and Depression
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Back Pain and Joint Pain
- We use a high-volume hospital, Hospital Mi Doctor, which has been shown to reduce complication rates and increase patient outcomes for bariatric patients.
Mexico Bariatric Center has the patient safety, security and peace of mind as a priority. MBC has teamed up with a medical tourism insurance company to offer affordable Medical Tourism Insurance.
The average normal human stomach can expand to hold around 1.5 liters of food. Once the food arrives in the stomach, it is blended with gastric secretion (digestive enzymes) to help break down the food to a simpler form so it can be more efficiently processed and absorbed when it is in the small bowel.
After gastric sleeve surgery, the pyloric valve stays intact and the digestive process does not change as the food still gets blended with bile and pancreatic juices.
It is a known fact that to burn excess fat and lose weight, you have to eat less than what your body needs every day. Sleeve gastrectomy is a form of restrictive weight loss surgery. By significantly reduces stomach size, the individual consumes less food as the stomach is now easily filled.
The reduction in stomach size creates a reduced production of a stomach-produced hormone called Ghrelin (Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor) which induces hunger. Thus, the individual is less hungry throughout the day and gets full quickly.
Recent set point theory states that gastric sleeve procedure changes body’s metabolic thermostat; as a result, the patient’s metabolism goes up and hunger goes down – the weight loss is achieved by “physiologic” mechanism and not by “restriction.”
Although Gastric Sleeve Surgery was FDA approved in the United States in 2001, Mexico had performed sleeve surgery many years before that. In fact, the experience of this procedure started in Mexico after the Duodenal Switch Surgery originated in 1986.
Just like every other surgery, there are possible short-term, near-term, and long-term complications associated with gastric sleeve surgery. Here at MBC, the complication rate is a fraction of the published complication rate data in United States and is close to zero.
Short-Term – 3 days or less
- Bleeding Gastric Leak
- Blood Clots
- Abdominal Abscess
- Wound Site Infection
Near-Term – 3 to 8 days
- Stomach Obstruction
Long-Term – after 8 days
- Nutritional Deficiencies
* Stricture is a narrowing section that may develop as a result of scar tissue in the mid-body of the sleeve. It interferes with the normal movement of food and can cause pain after eating and vomiting. See gastric sleeve complications and risks.
Recent studies show that people with a weight problem have a higher chance of having the hernia. For a successful surgery, the surgeon needs to look closely to repair a hernia to avoid reflux symptoms. Our bariatric surgeons examine the patient during gastric sleeve surgery for the presence of Hiatal Hernia (HH) and repair it if it is needed.