Are you interested in weight loss surgery, but concerned about some of the risks? Are you nervous about the need for frequent follow-up visits or experiencing weight loss plateaus after surgery?
Dr. Brett Cohen is the only formally trained Bariatric Surgeon in Florida offering a new experimental procedure known as Banded Gastric Plication Technique, one of the most effective and safest solutions ever available for weight loss. Finally, weight loss surgery can offer the best of both worlds – great results with much less risk!
What is Banded Gastric Plication?
Banded Gastric Plication is an experimental procedure that combines two techniques to produce superior weight loss results: gastric banding and stomach plication.
- Gastric Banding – an adjustable band is placed around the upper portion of the stomach to create a small stomach pouch. The tightness of the band is controlled by adding or removing saline solution through a port attached under the skin in the abdomen. When the band is properly adjusted, you can only eat a very small amount of food (usually about 4 ounces) at one time.
- Gastric Plication – this procedure involves separating the stomach from the surrounding fatty tissue and then folding the outer curvature of the stomach into itself. The folds are secured with running sutures and eliminate the stomach’s ability to expand. There is no cutting or diving of the stomach like with a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy.
When performed together these procedures create one small stomach pouch at the top of the stomach and a narrow, sleeve-shaped lower stomach that cannot expand. The result is that you will not be able to eat large portions of food and you will feel satisfied for longer periods of time between meals.
Banded Gastric Plication is the Best of Both Worlds
Adjustable gastric banding is often considered to be the safest weight loss surgery available. It’s reversible and easily adjustable, and does not interfere with the majority of the digestive system. However, long-term studies show that many gastric banding patients experience a slower rate of weight loss than patients who undergo other procedures, and they may be more likely to experience a weight loss plateau before reaching their weight loss goal. Gastric banding also requires frequent follow-up visits to adjust the band in order to remain effective.
Other weight loss surgeries, such as the sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass, significantly reduce the size of the stomach and have been shown to cause greater initial weight loss and faster rates of loss than gastric banding alone. However, these surgeries can also involve serious complications and are often thought to be less safe than adjustable gastric banding surgery for most patients.
Benefits of Banded Gastric Plication
Banded gastric plication offers many significant benefits, including:
- Significant short-term and long-term weight loss
- Fewer follow-up visits and gastric band adjustments needed
- Minimally invasive procedure
- Completely reversible
- No changes made to the small intestine that may cause complications
- No stapling, diving, or removal of parts of the GI tract and therefore remains the safest weight loss procedure
Gastric banding plication allows patients to enjoy more significant and potentially easier weight with less risk than other procedures.
Banded Gastric Plication in South Florida
Is Banded Gastric Plication the right weight loss solution for you? Dr. Cohen and the team at Hollywood Bariatrics can help you understand what weight loss surgeries are available to you and determine which option is best for your individual goals.