Incisionless Primary Obesity Treatment in Outpatient Surgery Centers

The worldwide patient population with 100 pounds over ideal body weight is increasing and recent surveys and medical journal report that 25% of the U.S. population is obese. MRM estimates that 100 million Americans, or approximately 35% of the anticipated U.S. population, will be obese by the year 2017. Obesity is becoming a problem in all industrialized countries worldwide, including China and India.

Current treatment options for obesity include exercise and dieting, prescription drugs and bariatric surgical alternatives. For many obese patients exercise and dieting results are not permanent.

For patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher or for those who are approximately 100 pounds overweight, bariatric surgery becomes more common with an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 bariatric surgical procedures performed annually worldwide.

Common bariatric surgery methods are sleeve gastrectomies, gastric bypass, gastric banding and gastroplasty. These procedures are expensive, require significant incisions and have a moderate to high level of complications.

Gastric bypass:

Gastric bypass combines the creation of a small stomach pouch to restrict food intake and the construction of bypasses of the duodenum and other segments of the small intestine, thereby decreasing the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food.

Gastric banding:

A small inflatable/dilatable band (which allows adjustment to the size of the opening between the pouch and the stomach) is placed around the upper part of the stomach, creating a small pouch, so that patients feel full faster.

Vertical banding gastroplasty:

Stomach stapling, in which a band and staples are used to create a small stomach pouch.

Incisionless procedure:

A new, less invasive surgical option is now available as a tool to help patients lose weight. Surgeons are using new instruments to suture folds into the stomach, reducing its capacity. A feeling of accelerated fullness with satiation of hunger can help patients eat less and feel full. The surgeon performs the procedure entirely through the mouth without making any external incisions into the body.

The absence of external incisions may provide benefits such as more safety compared to traditional open or laparoscopic bariatric surgery, less postoperative pain, faster return to normal activities and better cosmetic results and the fact that no one needs to know that  procedure was performed (privacy).