New Innovations in Weight Loss Surgery

By Susan Brady

Obesity surgery has been shown to be the only long-term effective means of weight loss for morbidly obese patients, typically working far better than diet, exercise or drugs, but as with any surgery there are risks, chief among them surgically opening the abdomen and a resulting scar. But there are less invasive methods, including a new procedure developed by a doctor from Southern California a North Carolina medical-device company.

Dr. Brian Quebbemann, surgical director at The N.E.W. Program weight-loss center in Newport Beach and TransEnterix, Inc. have teamed up to develop the Spider surgical tool, which allowed surgeons to perform bariatric surgery without the typical surgical incision. The tool enters through a small hole made in the belly button and cuts down the capacity of the stomach, by up to 80 percent.

Approved by the FDA last year, the Spider has multiple instrument channels, allowing the surgeon to insert flexible instruments to expand the abdomen (kind of like an umbrella), miniscule cameras to view the working environment, and surgical tools to trim the stomach and make sutures. The Spider is then removed through the same hole.

Also on the horizon, and currently in a multi-center study to gain FDA approval, is the TOGA System, a less-invasive bariatric procedure that is performed endoscopically (through the mouth). A set of flexible devices is inserted through the mouth into the stomach in order to staple together sections of the stomach and thus reduce its overall food capacity.

The TOGA System is a set of flexible stapling devices that is inserted through the mouth into the stomach. Once the device is in place, suction is used to gather together tissue from both sides of the stomach into the device. The collected tissue is then fastened together with titanium staples. The procedure creates a small stomach pouch, shaped like a narrow sleeve, at the top of the stomach. Once the stomach is stapled and the procedure is complete, the device is removed from the body.

source: healthnews