Since its first description in 2013, robust evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of the endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) has been on the rise. A large case series and meta-analysis report supported results up to 24 months, while some other studies already described 5-year data. If associated with pharmacotherapy, the ESG may help one to achieve weight loss similar to that of surgical sleeve gastrectomy. Though the results of the ongoing randomized trials on ESG are awaited, currently available data support the clinical use of the ESG, especially for patients who are refusing or unfit for bariatric surgery.
Gastrectomy ; Gastroplasty/methods* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Obesity, Morbid ; Treatment Outcome

Obesity and its complications, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver, are serious global public health problems. Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) can reduce the length and width of the stomach by simulating the anatomical structure of surgical sleeve gastrectomy to reduce the capacity of the stomach, and is safe and effective to reduce weight. ESG has the advantages of non- invasiveness, no gastrectomy, repeatability, simple operation, no incision scar, few complications, short hospital stay and quick postoperative recovery. As an intermediate means of medical treatment and surgery, ESG provides a new method for weight loss for obese patients who cannot tolerate or are unwilling to undergo surgery. Herein we trace the origin of ESG, analyze the unique advantages of ESG suture, explore the technical improvement in the development of ESG, and briefly describe the weight reduction effect of ESG and compare the curative effect of ESG with laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. ESG has undergone rapid development and maturity but also faces such challenges as the lack of established standard procedures, unclear weight reduction mechanism, and clarification of the indications for operation. Still, ESG is expected to become the mainstream technique for weight reduction.
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Gastrectomy ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Obesity, Morbid ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

Obesity and metabolic syndrome affect ~40% of individuals in the United States alone. They are significant conditions that can cause severe economic problems. Obesity is also a global issue, with ~400 million obese adults worldwide. Moreover, the number of overweight children is increasing. Bariatric surgery is the gold standard treatment for obesity; however, endoscopic approaches may have a significant role in improving metabolic syndrome and achieving weight loss. Many endoscopic methods have been introduced, some of which are currently available and some that are undergoing experimentation. Endoscopists have a role in the treatment of obesity because endoscopic therapies are expected to become safer and more efficacious in the coming years. Endoscopic bariatric therapies can be categorized as space occupying, malabsorption, and gastric volume reduction. In this review, we summarize the currently available endoscopic procedures.
Adult ; Bariatric Surgery ; Child ; Endoscopy ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Obesity ; Overweight ; United States ; Weight Loss

Obesity is a growing pandemic across the world. Dietary restrictions and behavior modifications alone have a limited benefit. Bariatric surgery, despite being the current gold standard, has limited acceptance by patients due to cost and associated morbidity. In our review, we have discussed nine original studies describing endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG). A total of 172 subjects successfully underwent ESG. Of 65 subjects with follow up data, 95.4% (62/65) had intact gastric sleeve confirmed via esophagogastroduodenoscopy or oral contrast study at the end of study specific follow up interval (the longest being 6 months). Individual studies reported a technical success rate for intact gastric sleeve from as low as 50% to as high as 100%. A statistically significant p < 0.05) weight loss was reported in seven of the eight studies with available data. None of the patients experienced any intra-procedure complications, and approximately 2.3% (4/172) of patients experienced major post-procedure complications; however, no mortality was reported. Majority of the studies reported relatively high incidence of minor post-procedure complications, which improved with symptomatic treatment alone. Good patient tolerance with comparable clinical efficacy in achieving and sustaining desired weight loss makes ESG an attractive option to consider among other bariatric therapies.
Bariatric Surgery ; Behavior Therapy ; Body Mass Index ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastroplasty* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Obesity* ; Pandemics ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

Along with the soaring prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) globally, metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) has been rapidly developing into a major surgical subspecialty. However, the indications, benefits and potential risks of MBS are still controversial so far. In September 2015, the 2nd Diabetes Surgery Summit (DSS-II() was successfully convened, and later on an international joint statement on metabolic surgery in the treatment algorithm for T2DM was released based upon the consensus reached in DSS-II(, aiming to serve as a new global clinical guideline. The DSS-II( joint statement was initiated and endorsed by 5 leading international diabetes organizations, including American Diabetes Association (ADA), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS), Diabetes India, as well as Diabetes UK, and was developed by an expert committee comprised of 48 international authorities as voting delegates. Up to the date of publication, the DSS-II( statement has been officially endorsed by 45 international professional associations/societies, including 30 non-surgical and 15 surgical organizations. In this statement, the following six aspects were recommended to differentiate MBS from traditional bariatric surgery: 1)The primary goal of MBS is to treat T2DM and to reduce the risk of T2DM complications; 2) In addition to a 50% or more of excess weight loss and normalization of glycemia, outcomes of diabetes complications should also be considered as clinical endpoints of MBS; 3) For patient selection, body mass index (BMI), T2DM treatment, as well as long-term risks versus benefits, including its effects on cardiovascular events (CVD), should all be considered; 4) T2DM and its complications, as well as pancreatic function reserve should be assessed pre-operatively; 5) Major surgical options include laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB), laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), and bilio-pancreatic diversion with duodenal switch(BPD-DS). BPD-DS has the best outcome in T2DM remission followed by LRYGB, LSG and LAGB; 6) Glycemic variation should be intensively monitored, and if needed, managed following surgery. Clinical follow-up should be conducted at least once every six months within two years after surgery. For patients achieving complete remission from T2DM, diabetes complications should still be monitored within five years after surgery with the same frequency and protocols as pre-operatively.
Aftercare ; standards ; Bariatric Surgery ; methods ; standards ; Biliopancreatic Diversion ; Blood Glucose ; physiology ; Body Mass Index ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; surgery ; Disease Management ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Bypass ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; surgery ; Laparoscopy ; Obesity ; surgery ; Patient Care Planning ; standards ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; standards ; Remission Induction ; methods ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

Bariatric and metabolic surgery has become the clinical hot topic of the treatment of metabolic syndromes including obesity and diabetes mellitus, but how to choose the appropriate surgical procedure remains the difficult problem in clinical practice. Clinical guidelines of American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery(ASMBS)(version 2013) introduced the procedures of bariatric and metabolic surgery mainly including biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch(BPD-DS), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy(LSG). To choose the appropriate bariatric and metabolic procedure, the surgeons should firstly understand the indications and the contraindications of each procedure. Procedure choice should also consider personal condition (body mass index, comorbidities and severity of diabetes), family and socioeconomic status (postoperative follow-up attendance, understanding of potential surgical risk of gastrectomy and patient's will), family and disease history (patients with high risk of gastric cancer should avoid LRYGB; patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease should avoid LSG) and associated personal factors of surgeons. With the practice of bariatric and metabolic surgery, the defects, especially long-term complications, of different procedures were found. For example, LRYGB resulted in higher incidence of postoperative anemia and marginal ulcer, high risk of gastric cancer as well as the requirement of vitamin supplementation and regular follow-up. Though LSG has lower surgical risk, its efficacy of diabetes mellitus remission and long-term weight loss are inferior to the LRYGB. These results pose challenges to the surgeons to balance the benefits and risks of the bariatric procedures. A lot of factors can affect the choice of bariatric and metabolic procedure. Surgeons should choose the procedure according to patient's condition with the consideration of the choice of patients. The bariatric and metabolic surgery not only manages the diabetes mellitus and weight loss, but also results in the reconstruction of gastrointestinal tract and side effect. Postoperative surgical complications and nutritional deficiency should also be considered. Thereby, individualized bariatric procedure with the full consideration of each related factors is the ultimate objective of bariatric and metabolic surgery.
Anemia ; epidemiology ; Bariatric Surgery ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Biliopancreatic Diversion ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Body Mass Index ; Comorbidity ; Contraindications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; surgery ; Disease Management ; Gastrectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastric Bypass ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Gastroplasty ; methods ; mortality ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Laparoscopy ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Long Term Adverse Effects ; epidemiology ; Malnutrition ; epidemiology ; Obesity ; surgery ; Patient Acuity ; Patient Care Planning ; Patient Compliance ; Postgastrectomy Syndromes ; epidemiology ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

The emerging endoscopic technologies are proved to be effective treatments for obesity in selected patients and to offer the potential advantages of reduced invasiveness, reversibility and repeatability. From the view of operation principle, endoscopic technologies can be classified as restrictive procedure, malabsorption procedure and endoscopic revision of gastric bypass. Restrictive procedures include intragastric balloon, aspiration therapy, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) and transoral gastroplasty. Intragastric balloon employs space occupying, volume restriction and satiety mechanisms, which is superior to drugs and lifestyle change, but shorter than sleeve and bypass surgery. Aspiration therapy is similar to standard percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, while there are no available data regarding the obesity and metabolic improvement. Compared with traditional bariatric surgery, ESG does not excise gastric tissue with less complications and without weight regain, but it can not be used as an independent operation still now. Transoral gastroplasty is rarely applied clinically whose efficacy and long-term complications need further studies. Malabsorption surgery includes endoscopic duodenojejunal bypass sleeve (EDJBS) and endoscopic gastroduodenojejunal bypass sleeve(EGDJBS). EDJBS may have the similar mechanism like bypass reducing the blood glucose. Even with obvious effect of weight loss, EDJBS has high morbidity of complications and requirements of the skilled operators. EGDJBS, which imitates bypass anatomy changes and belongs to the mixed operation, should be superior to the above procedures in reducing weight theoretically, but due to the lack of clinical data, its short-term and long-term efficacy still need further clinical observation. As compared to the complexity and risks associated with telescopic surgical revision, endoscopic suturing has been confirmed as less invasive and safer for stomal revisions, while its long-term efficacy of reducing weight and improvement of diabetes are not yet clear. Even if long-term efficacy of reducing weight and morbidity of complication in endoscopic bariatric surgery are still indefinite, and clinical trial researches of large sample and long-term follow-up are absent, with the development of endoscopic skill and the gradual clinical application, endoscopic bariatric surgery will provide a new option for the patients of obesity and metabolic diseases.
Bariatric Surgery ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; trends ; Disease Management ; Endoscopy ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastric Balloon ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastric Bypass ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastroplasty ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Metabolic Diseases ; surgery ; Obesity ; surgery ; Reoperation ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Surgical Stomas ; pathology ; statistics & numerical data ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

Obesity is a complex metabolic disease. Currently, obesity treatment includes lifestyle modification, obesity drug treatment, and bariatric surgery. Lifestyle modification is an essential part of obesity treatment, but it is limited by itself. And anti-obesity treatment drugs also showed limited weight loss effect, about 3-9% per year, and can cause serious side effects such as cardiovascular side events. Surgical treatment requires high cost, permanent resection of the gastrointestinal tract and can cause complication related to surgery. Recently, several promising endoscopic bariatric therapies are emerging. Endoluminal bariatric treatment using flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy could offer a minimally invasive treatment aimed at achieving an effect comparable to obesity surgery, while offering advantages of low cost and safety. In this paper, we described a new technological method, recent clinical data, and the latest findings on obstacles to be overcome for endoscopic gastroplasty using endoscopic suture instruments. Endoscopic gastroplasty presented reduced gastric volume, effective weight loss and maintenance effect without severe adverse events. It could suggest an attractive treatment option for obesity.
Bariatric Surgery ; Bariatrics ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Gastroplasty* ; Life Style ; Metabolic Diseases ; Methods ; Obesity* ; Sutures ; Weight Loss

PURPOSE: Although laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is a popular bariatric procedure, few comprehensive studies have been investigated on the use of non-gastro-gastric sutures (NGGSs) for decreasing postoperative complications. This study aimed to assess and compare the safety and effectiveness of MIDBAND with or without gastro-gastric sutures (GGSs). METHODS: Between February 2013 and March 2014, 41 severely obese patients underwent primary LAGB using pars flaccid technique at double center in South Korea. Excess weight loss, operative time and postoperative complications were assessed and compared between a GGS group (group 1) and a NGGS group (group 2), and patients were followed monthly for 1 year. RESULTS: Mean body mass indices in groups 1 and 2 were 38.4 ± 4.7 and 38.9 ± 5.0 kg/m², respectively, and mean percentage excess weight losses (%EWLs) were 59.9% ± 28.4% and 50.9% ± 20.0%, respectively, at 6 months, and 75.8% ± 26.6% and 72.5% ± 27.5%, respectively, at 12 months, and these intergroup differences of %EWL were not significant (P = 0.256 and P = 0.704, respectively). Mean operative time (57.2 minutes) was shorter in group 2 than in group 1 (79.2 minutes) (P < 0.001). In terms of complications, pouch dilatation rates were similar in the 2 groups, and no case of gastric band erosion was encountered. CONCLUSION: Operative time was shorter in the NGGS group, and pouch dilatation rates and %EWL were similar in the 2 groups. We conclude NGGS using MIDBAND is both straightforward and effective. A long-term prospective comparative study is needed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of NGGS.
Bariatric Surgery ; Dilatation ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Korea ; Laparoscopy ; Operative Time ; Postoperative Complications ; Prospective Studies* ; Sutures* ; Weight Loss

The incidence of obesity is increasing, and more definitive treatment modalities are needed. Endoluminal procedures, including restrictive endoscopic procedures, endoscopic gastroplasty, and malabsorptive endoscopic procedures, can reduce weight in obese patients and control obesity-related comorbidities. Malabsorptive endoscopic interventions also offer the potential for an ambulatory procedure that may be safer and more cost-effective compared with laparoscopic surgery. Malabsorptive endoscopic intervention can induce weight reduction and improve obesity-related metabolic parameters, despite complications such as device migration, obstruction, and abdominal pain. Improvement in technique will follow the development of new devices.
Abdominal Pain ; Comorbidity ; Endoscopy ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intestinal Absorption ; Laparoscopy ; Obesity* ; Weight Loss