Thanks for Being Here, Stomaphyx Inquirers

Karen3 suggested I come over and read some of the past posts on this procedure/device, whatever it is!! I wish I came here in the first place, because a few of the people on the main board are really rude and unfriendly. Also, thanks to everyone who is now talking about gaining weight. I've been feeling ashamed of it myself, flucuating between 30 and 40 pounds for the past year now. I'm even ashamed to go to my doctor, who only sent me to a dietician, and she was telling me to eat things that I know shouldn't go into my mouth. I've seen this thing costing anywhere between 6 and 9000 dollars. Has anyone looked into whether insurance would cover it? Part of it? Anyone on the board have it and want to talk about it? I'll tell you the truth, even if insurance doesn't cover it, I'm ready to sell my guitars and whatever else to get my pouch back to the way it was when I first got out of the hospital. Looking forward to responses, Grace

Hi Grace, Welcome! My Mom has done extensive research into the StomaPhyx. She is having it done on July 18th. However, insurance is not covering it. It seems that as of now, almost NO insurance carriers are willing to pay for it. They feel it's "experimentary". She has found the cost to be right about $10,000. She just had an endoscopy done for the pre-op part od the StomaPhyx. Her stoma and pouch are *5* times...yes FIVE times the size that they should be post op! So, now she is appealing it through the insurance, deeming it medically necessary. I think she has decided to pay and then if she wins the appeal, she'll be reinbursed. She's gained back almost 100 pounds! Her BMI is just about 37...and she was still denied!! She has BCBS. I will keep you all posted. Dr. Garber is doing it; he is the first in the Northeast ...but she even looked into other states and the price was the same. Best of luck, Karen

I just checked out the main board & the revision board; there is so much bad-mouthing going on over there...that's how Grace & I met! I wouldn't post over there for a million bucks (well, maybe a million). I did post about Dr. Garber & one person thinks I'm a shill because my profile's not filled out!

I did email Dr. G and suggest he post on the main board.

Oy vey!

I have  not been back to these boards in a long time... but this  topic brought me back.  I would be interested in finding out more about this myself.   

Does anyone have any links they would be willing to share... I am just now hearing about this and would like to research it further. Thanks in advance for your help and I hope everyone has a great day! Robin

http://www.obesityhelp.com/ohblog/mode,content/cmsID,10601/

Dr. Shawn Garber in New Hyde Park, NY, is currently performing the StomaPhyx

Gastric Bypass 're-dos' With No Incision

U.S. firm EndoGastric Solutions said Monday its device StomaphyX has been used successfully in five transoral, "redo" obesity procedures. Obesity re-do procedures are for patients who, after having gastric bypass surgery, have regained their weight. The company said that in each procedure the patient's stomach pouch was reduced to 50 percent its original size in a 20-minute, post-gastric bypass process that required no incision. All five patients experienced the onset of satiety and a significant change in their eating habits, said their stomachs felt similar to the four- to five-week period after the original surgery, and began to lose excess weight, the company added. The procedures were done in December at Sint-Blasius Hospital in Dendermonde, Belgium. "For the first time, we have been able to achieve similar near-term results as we would hope to achieve with a laparoscopic gastric redo-procedure but through a fully trans-oral procedure," said Jacques Himpens, a physician who has performed more than 600 gastric redo-procedures and more than 6,000 bariatric procedures. "This breakthrough procedure is important for the future of both bariatric surgery and gastroenterology since we are dealing with an extremely fragile patient population who often cannot undergo a second or third surgical procedure," said Michel Cremer, another physician who performs the surgeries. "When these patients return for a follow up visit and have regained their weight, they are devastated from a psychological standpoint and, until now, they were faced with the prospect of yet another serious surgery or the risk of becoming morbidly obese again." Standard bariatric revision surgery is time-consuming and has a high complication rate, experts say.

Thank you Karen!  I am still re-learning my way around the OH site and I appreciate your time and efforts to post that information for me it is very helpful! Have a great afternoon! Robin

Call me skeptical, but  I wonder if you want to be a guinea pig for what is essentially a brand new procedure. Even with FDA approval, I'd be concerned to be one of the first patients, since the FDA approved Avandia and Vioxx. This sounds good in the short term, but who knows after that? No one knows the long-term consequences of having this done a few years down the road and they won't know for several years. It seems to me that every time I think something sounds too good to be true, I find out that it was too good to be true.  At least ask a lot of questions. There is too much hype and very little information out there that doesn't come from the company or a press release or one of the docs who's doing it. Maybe because of some bad experiences with cheerleaders in high school (LOL), I'm still wary of cheerleaders even now.  I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly before I let them touch my body.

Dear Grace, I am a bariatric surgeon on long Island (the only one) that has approval and training to do this.  Give my office a call and we can answer all of you questions.  We are very excited about stomaphyx as it has minimal morbidity, in most cases, our patients can go home the same day with a minimal epigastric tenderness that is ammendable to analgesics and most patients can go to work the next day.  My office Number is (516)616-5500,  ask to make an appointment with me, Dr. Spencer Holover.   I am Dr. Shawn Garber's partner and we will be doing these together.   I specialize in endoscopy and Lap bypass, band and laparoscopic surgery. I look forward to speaking to you.