Posted by Deciding to undergo surgery is a very big, life-altering, decision. A very common procedure is vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Sounds complicated, but is the simpler surgery to get. This surgery is also known as a gastric sleeve. With this surgery, a doctor will remove about eighty percent of the stomach and sew it back together. For a better understanding, let’s use a purse as an example. You have a purse that is way too big. can buy a new one or you can make it smaller. So you cut the bottom off of the purse to your desired length and sew the bottom up. Now you have a purse that is smaller and more effective for your belongings. Same concept to this procedure. Doctors cut the bottom of your stomach to make it smaller and sew the bottom together, so food won’t fall out.
This ensures that you eat smaller portions and start to learn about healthier eating habits. The end result is, your stomach is roughly the size of a banana. The gastric sleeve is a very common choice as the success rate is roughly seventy percent weight loss within the first year (source). Some advantages of this surgery is the high success rate, along with the long term results that can follow. Of course, that all depends on the patients and following post-op diet for the new stomach. The disadvantage of this surgery is that the weight loss rate is slower than other surgeries. This specific surgery is more of a long term result with less complications that can arise. Below is a picture of the stomach and how it is cut.
Julia decided to draw a diagram of a laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastronomy. She explained how the surgery would be done and what it would do. Essentially a doctor would remove 80% of the stomach and then sew it back together. She drew a diagram of the two different stomachs both before and after the surgery as well as the direction in which the food would move. In addition she also used a creative comparison such as having a purse and the purse being way too big for the contents you would carry. She then continued by saying you would cut off the excess bottom half of the purse for the length that you wanted it. She had arrows showing the direction of the food as it went down the stomach and had a pink outline of the stomach before the surgery with the stomach being able to withstand a larger amount of food. The second diagram had the same arrows showing the direction of food as it went through the stomach only this time 80% of the stomach had been removed. There was shading to show how much had been removed and how much food the stomach was able to hold after the surgery. Advantages from the surgery included a high success rate and long term results and some disadvantages were that the weight loss can be slower compared to other surgeries. It was a smart, creative, and informative way to show the effects of the laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery.