When Was Gastric Sleeve Gastrectomy First Performed?

Gastric sleeve gastrectomy is an operation that restricts food intake in which the intestines are not touched, only the stomach is reduced in size. It is thought that appetite decreases due to changes in some hormones such as Ghrelin PYY in the digestive system after sleeve gastrectomy surgery.

World's First Sleeve Gastrectomy

Sleeve gastrectomy was first performed openly by Doug Hess in March 1988 in Ohio, USA as part of a type of weight loss surgery called duodenal switch.

In 1999, the first attempts to perform this surgery called duodenal switch closed (laparoscopically) were made by Dr. Gagner and his colleagues on pigs. The following year Dr. Gagner performed the first laparoscopic duodenal switch surgery on humans. However, due to the high complication rates, especially in overweight patients, it was recommended to divide the surgery into two stages. In other words, first only the stomach would be reduced and after a certain period of time, when the patient lost some weight, the duodenal switch surgery would be completed by making changes on the intestines in the second surgery. However, when most of the patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy in the first stage lost enough weight and did not need the second stage, the surgery we know today as sleeve gastrectomy was started to be performed laparoscopically alone in 2003. In 2007, the first gastric sleeve surgery joint decision meeting in the world was held in New York City. That year, I had the chance to attend the first world meeting of this gastric sleeve surgery, which was still little known in the world, by seeing the brochure of the first world meeting while working in the clinic where I was working and receiving training from my university in the USA. I was both surprised and proud that I was the only surgeon from my country to attend this meeting.

Although I am proud to be the first surgeon in our country (November 2012) to perform the laparoscopic duodenal switch surgery, which was first performed in the USA in 2000, I am in favor of the application of this surgery only for revision purposes in cases of weight gain after sleeve gastrectomy surgery, rather than being used as a weight loss surgery alone.