Weight loss surgeon Dr. Alex Gandsas recently completed the Mid-Atlantic region's first robotic sleeve gastrectomy at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. This new approach to an existing procedure typically allows patients to lose up to 65 percent of their excess weight – with less post-operative pain, minimal blood loss, reduced complications, minimal scarring and a faster return to normal activities.
"For years, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center has successfully used the da Vinci® Surgical System for urologic and gynecologic procedures," said Dr. Gandsas, a bariatric surgeon at Lourdes and chair of the department of surgery at the UMDNJ School of Osteopathic Medicine. "The hospital is once again breaking new ground by offering the same technology and surgical benefits to patients with morbid obesity."
Alyse Jeffers, 25, of Glassboro, a student and residential aide for mentally disabled adults, was the first in the area to undergo the procedure. She weighed 328 pounds before the surgery.
"I've been overweight since I can remember, and my sisters are tiny," Jeffers said. "I felt I lost control. I needed to do this while I was still young. I just want to be healthy."
A sleeve gastrectomy removes 75 percent of the stomach so that is resembles a shirtsleeve. The procedure is viewed as an alternative to gastric bypass and patients typically lose 55 to 65 percent of excess weight over the three years following surgery. Because the intestines remain intact, nutritional deficiencies are not a problem.
Traditional open sleeve gastrectomy surgery involves a large abdominal incision through as much as four inches of fat, a challenge and a possible source of complications. Minimally invasive surgery can involve five half-inch incisions or a single point of entry through the naval, an approach that can be challenging for the surgeon because the instruments are working in one line.
"With the robot, however, you have three-dimensional vision and a greater degree of freedom, which gives you the ability to access hard-to-reach tissues," explained Dr. Gandsas.
In general, patients who are eligible for traditional laparoscopy are appropriate for robot-assisted approaches, including people with anemia, Crohn's disease and other conditions that might make a gastric bypass too risky. The robotic approach is good for patients with a BMI of 55 to 60 and who have a thick abdominal wall.
Video of the robotic sleeve gastrectomy being performed at Lourdes can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVTZ_isj1mg.
Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County and Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center are designated Blue Distinction Centers® for Bariatric Surgery by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent healthcare ratings organization, has given Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center a five-star rating for overall bariatric surgery two years in a row, ranked it number three in New Jersey for two consecutive years and awarded it the Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award™ in 2009.
NOTE: Video available at YouTube
Contacts:
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center
Carol Lynn Daly, 856-705-1365
dalyc@lourdesnet.org