Any Dr. Watkins Gastric Plication Patients here?

[Stringbender 0]

I'm scheduled for Laprascopic Gastric Plication surgery with Dr. Brad Watkins of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic this Wednesday 8/17/11. Any others on this site that have had the this procedure by Dr. Watkins?

Very interested in what your opinions are. Talked to the Dr and just about every one that works at the clinic. Though some seemed a bit in the dark about the procedure, all were polite and very professional.

Would appreciate any opinions, and experiences with gastric plication surgery as well. Thanks

[NotSoLittleMermaid 14]

I'm scheduled for Laprascopic Gastric Plication surgery with Dr. Brad Watkins of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic this Wednesday 8/17/11. Any others on this site that have had the this procedure by Dr. Watkins?

Very interested in what your opinions are. Talked to the Dr and just about every one that works at the clinic. Though some seemed a bit in the dark about the procedure, all were polite and very professional.

Would appreciate any opinions, and experiences with gastric plication surgery as well. Thanks

He is the BEST if you want Plication, you can do no better! His staff are caring and supportive too!

[smkeller 3]

Is this the same Dr. Brad Watkins that wrote this letter? He was one of the few US surgeons offering plication. Due to complications, he says that he is not offering this surgery any longer.

http://www.verticals...929#entry125929

His quoted posts from vst:

After speaking with bariatric surgeons around the country I have learned about several reports of perforation due to gastric necrosis in patients that had plication surgery. These patients have presented within the first few days of surgery and complained of severe abdominal pain. To my knowledge, there are no reports of this presenting beyond the first few days after surgery. What is unclear is why this occurs in some patients and not others. The issue appears to involve impaired blood circulation in the crowded stomach tissue that has been folded in on itself. The cardia portion of the stomach (the upper part) seems to be susceptible to this. Since plication is a new procedure, at this stage it is important to know about this as a potential complication. I will continue to post updates on this forum as we learn new information.

You should know that one of the perforations due to gastric necrosis happened to one of my patients. I have since contacted many bariatric surgeons to inform them of this and in doing so learned that there have been several other cases in other clinics as well, some of whom had their surgery outside the U.S. As soon as I learned this I posted the information on this forum as well as our plication patient's private message board.

Will I continue to recommend plication surgery? The short answer is not right now. Regarding full length plication as a primary operation I think we need more information on why some patients are developing gastric necrosis and some are not. We've had many successful plication patients with excellent weight loss. Certainly perforation is a known potential complication of stapled sleeve gastrectomy as well, but considering that relatively small numbers of plications are being performed around the world, a few perforations is too high of an incidence for me especially given the magnitude of the complication. When a perforation occurs in a plication, this stomach has to be removed, the end result of which is essentially a stapled sleeve gastrectomy.

One of the things that attracted me to the plication is that it seemed like it would avoid the possibility of perforation since there were no staple lines. These perforations are occurring through a different mechanism - compromised blood flow to the stomach. In speaking with many bariatric surgeons in the U.S. we would not have anticipated this based on our knowledge of the stomach's blood supply. We do not think this is an arterial problem (inflow of blood) - it seems to be a problem of venous congestion or impairment of venous drainage in the crowded stomach. In simple terms, if the venous blood can't flow out of the tissue, this ultimately impairs the arterial inflow of blood from coming into the tissues. The end result is necrosis of the tissue which can perforate. This is the best theory we have currently on why this has occurred.

It is possible that a much looser plication or a single row plication instead of two rows might prevent this from occurring but would likely also reduce average weight loss success. An early study in a small number of patients at the Cleveland Clinic showed that anterior plication (only plicating the front part of the stomach) had disappointing weight loss results and they subsequently abandoned the technique. It is likely that tighter plications have better weight loss but higher risk for perforation and a looser plication might reduce the chance for perforation but also reduce weight loss success.

We have not had the experience that necrosis shows up later in the post-operative course. If you currently have a plication consult or surgery scheduled I would recommend that you discuss this with your surgeon. If I learn additional important information I will post it on this forum.

Brad M Watkins MD FACS

Cincinnati Weight Loss Center

Center of Excellence

American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons

Brad.Watkins@CincyWeightLoss.com

I'm scheduled for Laprascopic Gastric Plication surgery with Dr. Brad Watkins of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic this Wednesday 8/17/11. Any others on this site that have had the this procedure by Dr. Watkins?

Very interested in what your opinions are. Talked to the Dr and just about every one that works at the clinic. Though some seemed a bit in the dark about the procedure, all were polite and very professional.

Would appreciate any opinions, and experiences with gastric plication surgery as well. Thanks

[FatToPhat 83]

I'm scheduled for Laprascopic Gastric Plication surgery with Dr. Brad Watkins of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic this Wednesday 8/17/11. Any others on this site that have had the this procedure by Dr. Watkins?

Very interested in what your opinions are. Talked to the Dr and just about every one that works at the clinic. Though some seemed a bit in the dark about the procedure, all were polite and very professional.

Would appreciate any opinions, and experiences with gastric plication surgery as well. Thanks

Check out sleeveplicationtalk.com. It is a forum for people having the plication and there's at least one person that I know of that used Dr. Watkins. I know she thought he was great. So, it looks like you've had your surgery already. How did everything go? How are you feeling?

[NotSoLittleMermaid 14]

Dr. Watkins has resumed the proceedure and I believe he is writing an article or talking at a conference as one the leading experts about the proceedure. Of course, you had your surgery last month, so that is proof right there that Dr.Watkins has resumed it.

http://www.cincyweightloss.com/gastric-band-surgery/gps-procedure.html

[Stringbender 0]

Hi Soon To Be Little Mermaid;

Thank you for your response. I agree Dr. Watkins and his staff are the best. The same goes for every one I came in contact with at the surgery center during my stay there.

Surgery went with out a hitch. No pain to speak of. Only discomfort was being extremely tired for the first month or so after. That is to be expected after any major surgery.

Will be seven weeks this Wednesday since my surgery. Feeling great. Have lost 31 pounds so far. Weight loss is slowing down a bit compared to immediately after surgery but still dropping pounds.

Walking two miles a day. Haven't been able to accomplish that in 20 years. I read on your profile that you SCUBA dive. One of the things I'm most looking forward to being able to do again.

It's been way to long since being able to enjoy doing that as well.

Thanks again

He is the BEST if you want Plication, you can do no better! His staff are caring and supportive too!

[NotSoLittleMermaid 14]

Hi Soon To Be Little Mermaid;

Thank you for your response. I agree Dr. Watkins and his staff are the best. The same goes for every one I came in contact with at the surgery center during my stay there.

Surgery went with out a hitch. No pain to speak of. Only discomfort was being extremely tired for the first month or so after. That is to be expected after any major surgery.

Will be seven weeks this Wednesday since my surgery. Feeling great. Have lost 31 pounds so far. Weight loss is slowing down a bit compared to immediately after surgery but still dropping pounds.

Walking two miles a day. Haven't been able to accomplish that in 20 years. I read on your profile that you SCUBA dive. One of the things I'm most looking forward to being able to do again.

It's been way to long since being able to enjoy doing that as well.

Thanks again

Congrats! That is AMAZING WEIGHT LOSS! You'll love the feeling of having a loose wetsuite, less weights and being more fit! And going and buying new clothes! That is THE BEST! I got rid of 5 boxes of clothes and was able to get a new wardobe! Congratulations on your new life! I am SO glad I had surgery.. I would NEVER go back to a big stomach again! Can't wait to hear about your progress and get re-inspired!

[Eliv 0]

Hello everyone, I am having the banded gastric plication surgery performed by Dr. Watkins in Cincinnati on Wednsday . I am very nervous about having the surgery, especially after reading the letter that smkeller posted. The patient that doctor Watkins is reffering to is having posted videos in UTUBE, and she is doing very well now.

I am very excited to get the surgery but, very nervous while I am out of town and I will go by myself to the surgery center, due to my husband having to stay back home with our kids.

I never met Dr. Watkins but, talking to him and his staff at the phone... I cannot tell you, how impressed I am with how helpful everyone is and how detailed they are.

Please, wish me luck with my procedure and to everything go smoothly.

[smkeller 3]

Eliv, I wish you the best for your surgery and weight loss AND clear sailing afterwards too. I went alone to Mexico, it is a little scary, but people really step up to help you out. I'm sure that you will be OK. I just hope that I am wrong in my fears about this procedure. I looked at it hard before deciding on the sleeve, but just couldn't get convinced from the evidence available at the time.

Hello everyone, I am having the banded gastric plication surgery performed by Dr. Watkins in Cincinnati on Wednsday . I am very nervous about having the surgery, especially after reading the letter that smkeller posted. The patient that doctor Watkins is reffering to is having posted videos in UTUBE, and she is doing very well now.

I am very excited to get the surgery but, very nervous while I am out of town and I will go by myself to the surgery center, due to my husband having to stay back home with our kids.

I never met Dr. Watkins but, talking to him and his staff at the phone... I cannot tell you, how impressed I am with how helpful everyone is and how detailed they are.

Please, wish me luck with my procedure and to everything go smoothly.

[Eliv 0]

Dear smkeller,

Thank you very much for your kind comments. I will definetely keep you posted on my surgery, and of course the results of it.....

[Stringbender 0]

Hi Eliv;

It will be seven weeks ago tomorrow (Wednesday) that I had surgery with Dr. Watkins. Can't speak for others, only my experience with WLS so far. The procedure I decided on was gastric plication, no band.

Even with all the research I did I also was very nervous about having the surgery. Personally I feel that is actually a good thing. WLS is not something that should be taken lightly.

I'm not from the Cincinnati area, and went for the surgery by myself as well. It was a seven hour drive there. Don't mean to encourage or discourage any one, again can only speak of my experience.

So far, it has been nothing but positive. Have had no pain to speak of. The left shoulder pain that you may have read about went away after a short time, and was minimal. Recuperated enough from surgery that I made the

non stop drive home two days after. Though I must say Dr. Watkins strongly advised against it. Best part, I have lost 31 pounds in seven weeks. I'm walking two miles every day now. My breathing problems have all but

disappeared. Made a few bad eating choices since. 60 years of bad eating choices makes for old habits hard to get rid of. Each day to keep from falling into old habits is a challenge. But at the same time each day that challenge

is becoming less and less of a challenge. The importance of eating healthy food can not be emphasized enough, but for me exercise is the key. A word that I once considered a four letter word in my vocabulary I now look forward

to doing every day. The more I exercise the more I enjoy it. Who would have ever thought?

As far as Dr. Watkins and his staff....they are the best. Any questions or concerns, they are more than willing to answer. And it's not like they are used car sales people being nice in order to sell you something. They genuinely care about each individual patient. I have never known a Doctor, particularly a surgeon, that is as accessible as Dr. Watkins. Most importantly his surgical skills are unsurpassed. Must mention the surgery center staff. They were fantastic.

You can take comfort in, after making the very difficult decision to have weight loss surgery, that there is no one more qualified to perform it than Dr. Watkins.

So Eliv, I wish you the best of luck in your venture to a new life.

Hello everyone, I am having the banded gastric plication surgery performed by Dr. Watkins in Cincinnati on Wednsday . I am very nervous about having the surgery, especially after reading the letter that smkeller posted. The patient that doctor Watkins is reffering to is having posted videos in UTUBE, and she is doing very well now.

I am very excited to get the surgery but, very nervous while I am out of town and I will go by myself to the surgery center, due to my husband having to stay back home with our kids.

I never met Dr. Watkins but, talking to him and his staff at the phone... I cannot tell you, how impressed I am with how helpful everyone is and how detailed they are.

Please, wish me luck with my procedure and to everything go smoothly.

[harmlove777 0]

good luck with the surgery i hope your goes well i plan on getting it done soon as well let me know how it goes [email=harmonyjohnson777@yahoo.com

harmonyjohnson777@yahoo.com

name='Stringbender' timestamp='1313343187' post='194015]

I'm scheduled for Laprascopic Gastric Plication surgery with Dr. Brad Watkins of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic this Wednesday 8/17/11. Any others on this site that have had the this procedure by Dr. Watkins?

Very interested in what your opinions are. Talked to the Dr and just about every one that works at the clinic. Though some seemed a bit in the dark about the procedure, all were polite and very professional.

Would appreciate any opinions, and experiences with gastric plication surgery as well. Thanks