Folding the stomach to lose weight

There may be a new surgical option for people who need to lose 30 pounds or more, and it doesn’t require an implanted device or permanent anatomy change. Santiago Horgan, chief of minimally invasive surgery, and his team at the University of California, San Diego Health System, are running a clinical trial of gastric plication, a surgery that folds the stomach into a smaller, more compact size. “By folding the stomach, we can reduce the volume by 70 percent. Patients can expect to lose up to 2 pounds per week following the procedure,” said Horgan. Gastric plication is potentially reversible and is performed laparoscopically. During a one-hour procedure, one to five small incisions are made in the abdomen to reach the stomach to place the folds. Depending on the size of the patient’s stomach, one or two folds are created with non-absorbable sutures.