Gastric Plication Surgery

Gastric plication surgery, sometimes called the pseudo sleeve surgery, functions much like the gastric sleeve by creating a smaller stomach that restricts the amount of food you can eat. This is a novel bariatric surgery procedure wherein a part of the stomach is sewn with nonabsorbable sutures to reduce its size. The shape and volume of the stomach becomes similar to that seen after sleeve gastrectomy. Although the long term data with this procedure are still not available, the short term results are quite promising. The possibility of dilation of the stomach in the long term is a concern which has curtailed the popularity of this procedure amongst surgeons.

However, this is an economical option for patients who cannot afford the previously mentioned procedures since stapling guns and cartridges which increase the cost of a procedure are not used in this procedure.

What is the cost of gastric plication surgery?

Gastric plication surgery is a safe, reversible and cost effective weight loss surgery which has become popular in many developing countries. It makes use of traditional sutures to reduce the stomach capacity and doesn’t use any costly implants or staplers. Hence, the cost of this surgery is only around 50% of that of a conventional bariatric surgery.

Is gastric plication surgery reversible?

Since gastric plication reduces the stomach size by placement of two or more rows of non absorbable sutures, there is no cutting or removal of any portion of the stomach. Hence, this is a potentially reversible procedure in which the sutures may be removed at a later date making the stomach attain its original capacity.

Gastric sleeve Vs gastric plication

Both gastric sleeve and gastric plication are restrictive weight loss surgeries. However, gastric sleeve is a permanent and irreversible process where a portion of the stomach is removed by stapling, whereas, in plication, the stomach size is reduced by infolding it by placement of two or more rows of sutures. Gastric plication doesn’t remove any portion of the stomach and is completely reversible.