Question:
My daughter is considering this as her surgery of choice.

Because of her younger age, my daughters doctor is considering this surgery for my daughter. For those of you not familiar with it--it is the top half of the DS only--just a restrictive procedure. She has issues with malabsorption. Has anyone had this procedure? I hear Dr. Elrnary (sp) in VA does this--can someone direct me to some information on the outcomes?    — sandieguy (posted on July 4, 2002)

July 4, 2002
Elariny has been doing his "sleeve gastrectomy" or "vertical gastrectomy" for only about a year and a half at the most, so long-term results aren't available. One therefore must look to other purely-restrictive surgeries, like the vertically-banded gastroplasty, or VBG, to predict how well Elariny's experiment will work. On-line lists such as http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ossg-Revision and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DS-Revision--most of whose members had the VBG, and regained most or all of the weight lost--lead one to question whether purely-restrictive surgeries are likely to bring about permanent weight loss.
   — Kay B.

July 4, 2002
I am not sure if your daughter has considered the AGB. I guess the advantages of the WLS is that it is adjustable, ie, if she wants to have kids later on she can limit the restriction. ALso there is no "window of opportunity" with this surgery. SHe can take many years of gradual loss to achieve her goals.........just a consideration. Not so drastic for a young person. It is done laproscopically and is fully reversible.
   — April M.