The general trend in surgical specialties is to perform procedures that are less invasive, providing quicker recovery and less scarring. One technique that promises to advance this cause is endoscopic operations. This simply means that the surgeon passes a flexible scope down your mouth and into the stomach to perform the operation. When the procedure is finished, there are no scars.
One device we currently use is the Apollo Overstitch Endoscopic Suturing System. This instrument is capable of placing full thickness sutures.
By placing permanent sutures, a variety of bariatric interventions can be performed, including revisional operations and complication management.
This includes:
- Tightening the gastrojejunostomy of a gastric bypass
- Decreasing pouch size of a gastric bypass
- Closing a fistula of a gastric bypass
- Closing a gastric leak of a sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass
It is important to note that endoscopic plication is used to fix or repair, not as a primary operation for bariatric surgery.