Question:
VSG Patients please give opinion of sleeve results

overall sleeve sounds better but no long-term results yet from patients. interested in how long ago you had it, weight lost, and keeping it off, and would you choose RYN if you had it to do over again?    — Rhonda C. (posted on May 24, 2008)

May 24, 2008
There are no long term results from the WLS but they have been doing this surgery for over 30 yrs for ulcers and cancer. We have a lady who's mom had it done 30 yrs ago because of ulcers. Her mom was obese before surgery, but that wasn't the reason for the surgery. Her mom lost weight, and is still very healthy and in a normal weight range. There are supposed to be 5 yr results published soon, and from what I hear the results are really good. I'm just a little over a year out, but I would choose this over any other surgery for me. The good thing about this surgery is if you happen to need something with malabsorption down the line, you can always convert to a DS or RNY. I love the sleeve. My problem before surgery was I would just over eat if it was something I really liked. Heck, I probably over at with everything I ate. I can't do that now. I love being able to eat a normal amount of food instead of eating till I feel miserable. You should come check out the VSG forum, that's where I learned everything about it.
   — Teresa V.

May 25, 2008
While the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy has not been performed in the US for Weight Loss for more than 5 years, it has been done in Europe and in South America for quite some time. The results there have shown it to be at least as effective as the RNY. It has also been shown to be the least problematic of ALL the weight loss surgeries. The problem with the American Medical Community is that they will not accept data from OUTSIDE of the American Medical establishment as being conclusive. It is considered prone to inaccuracy. I don't know that I would place all that much trust in the AMERICAN data for THAT matter. There is too much MONEY riding on the outcome for the data to be considered reliable. However, what data that I could find on long term studies put the rates about something like this (keep in mind that I do NOT have the statistics in front of me but I am working off of MEMORY): The VSG long term rates for 7 years (Europe and South America) was something like 68 to 79% excess body weght loss, the RNY was 70 to 80% and the Duodenal Switch was 85 to 90%. The way I read the stats was that basically "Excess Body Weight Loss" meant that either the person had lost that much of the weight that they were looking to lose or that much of the target population had lost the excess weight that they wanted to. Unfortunately, I didn not SAVE the data that I found this information at so in order to get it again and CONFIRM it, I would have to do the research all over. I am not SURE of the EXACT numbers but I am sure that I am reasonably close. The VSG is CLOSE to the Gastric Bypass in effectiveness and it's effectiveness PROBABLY makes up for it's deficiency by the fact that it does NOT have the negative side effects that the Gastric Bypass does. If you want a MORE effective procedure, get the DS. It is basically a BETTER version of BOTH the VSG and the RNY. The only downside is that it DOES have the side effects of the RNY. That was the main REASON the VSG was created in the FIRST place. The doctors were looking for an ALTERNATIVE to the DS. I have done some research on the different surgical options available. You can find the information at my profile page. You can find my profile page here: http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/hubarlow/ . Look for a post called "Surgical Comparisons." If you cant find it on the main profile page, look in the March Archives. I have VIDEOS of the different surgical procedures on this post. They are quite graphic and VERY informative. The surgeons explain what they are doing and answer your questions about the surgery that they are doing on the video. Check it out. Hope this helps, Hugh
   — hubarlow

May 25, 2008
Because of years of yo-yo dieting and having a slow metabolism, I chose RNY for the malabsorbion effect, and would do it all again. I am very happy with my results. Good luck with whatever procedure you chose! Lesleigh in Ga.
   — lesleigh07