What is Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG)?

Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) or ‘Endoscopic sleeve (ES)’ is a newer type of non-surgical weight loss procedure. This procedure is performed under general anaesthesia, using a special gastroscope and an innovative suturing device called OverStitch® (Apollo Endosurgery). The capacity part of stomach is sutured within the stomach using non-dissolvable sutures, narrowing the stomach into a tube. As the volume of stomach is greatly reduced, satiety or ‘fullness’ is achieved with much smaller food portion.

This procedure does not involve any incision nor removal of stomach. After the procedure, patients will need to stay on modified diet for several weeks.

We offer a 24 months program with medical and dietetic supervision for all patients undergoing ESG.

Who is suitable?

• Body Mass Index above 28
• Anyone who feels intimidated by the thought of surgery

How good is it?

As ESG is a new procedure, long-term results are still lacking. Short-term results ie up to 2 years, showed average weight loss of about 15% total body weight ie 15-20kg.

The sutures may open up over time and that may lead to weight regain. So it is important to avoid vomiting in the initial post-operative period and also maintain small food portions to reduce the risk of the sutures stretching. Hence it is important for all ESG program patients to be monitored closely to optimise results.

Some early results suggest that its best value is for people who may not quite reach the acceptance criteria for traditional bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery such as band, sleeve or bypass still offer the best, most durable results for morbid obesity.

What happens if ESG does not work?

It is possible to redo ESG if sutures open up in selected cases. Alternative it is also feasible to convert to surgery. Please talk to our surgeon to discuss further.