Picking a doctor - level of VSG experience

[lob1999 0]

I'm trying to settle on a doctor and I found one that I like, but he only recently started offering VSG. He has done a ton of RNY surgeries, so he's not inexperienced when it comes to WLS.

The place is a Center of Excellence and they have a very low complication rate, so there's a lot of things I like about the place.

My initial impression is that the positives outweigh the negatives. What do you all think?

To clarify, I'm only interested in the sleeve.

[longer-life 139]

Your question is excellent. I have been wondering if I am "choosing correctly".

Right now I am only considering Hospitals of Excellence AND Surgeons of Excellence. I wouldn't go to a surgeon that has not done hundreds of VSG. I also like it when all of their practice is dedicated to bariatrics. The doctor I am leaning towards is a bariatric patient himself and the hospital has a bariatric floor. Despite all this, I am still researching and won't decide until I meet him.

I am looking forward to everyone's responses.

[Guest Rosalind]

I hope this helps. The sleeve is the first portion of a duodenal switch. If the surgeon has a lot of experience doing the duodenal switch then he can do the sleeve. My surgeon has 27 years of bariatric experience. In former times, the sleeve was done on extremely heavy people who could not qualify for gastric bypass or extensive surgery. Then later, after they lost some weight, the intestines were rerouted. This was the duodenal switch. Surgeons found out that patients were having exceptional weightloss with just the first part of the surgery and named it VSG. You can look it up for a longer, more detailed explanation.

[MeMeMEEE 206]

When I first met my surgeon in April and asked how many sleeves he had done it was 12. He had been doing them just over a year. However he has done over 650 bariatric surgeries, 2/3 of his practice is this. He is specialized in laproscopic surgery and does NO open surgeries. I asked to meet someone in person who had the sleeve and they set me up with a mentor. She thinks she was 5th or 6th of his sleeves. She is now a year out and doing great, she has had no problems. I am not sure how many sleeves he has done between April and August but my NUT told me no one is going lapband and all want the sleeve now - problem is a lot of insurances still don't cover it so it is relatively low number for most doctors on experience . I think experience isn't just in the particular surgery but about techniques also. I stuck with my surgeon, had my sleeve Monday and am very happy - no complications and no complaints! Also my hospital's program is a Bariatric Center of Excellence.

[Guest Rosalind]

When I first met my surgeon in April and asked how many sleeves he had done it was 12. He had been doing them just over a year. However he has done over 650 bariatric surgeries, 2/3 of his practice is this. He is specialized in laproscopic surgery and does NO open surgeries. I asked to meet someone in person who had the sleeve and they set me up with a mentor. She thinks she was 5th or 6th of his sleeves. She is now a year out and doing great, she has had no problems. I am not sure how many sleeves he has done between April and August but my NUT told me no one is going lapband and all want the sleeve now - problem is a lot of insurances still don't cover it so it is relatively low number for most doctors on experience . I think experience isn't just in the particular surgery but about techniques also. I stuck with my surgeon, had my sleeve Monday and am very happy - no complications and no complaints! Also my hospital's program is a Bariatric Center of Excellence.

Thanks for that info! I am looking to be approved any day now! My surgeon has done 1200 bariatric surgeries and does all laproscopic.

[lob1999 0]

When I first met my surgeon in April and asked how many sleeves he had done it was 12. He had been doing them just over a year. However he has done over 650 bariatric surgeries, 2/3 of his practice is this. He is specialized in laproscopic surgery and does NO open surgeries. I asked to meet someone in person who had the sleeve and they set me up with a mentor. She thinks she was 5th or 6th of his sleeves. She is now a year out and doing great, she has had no problems. I am not sure how many sleeves he has done between April and August but my NUT told me no one is going lapband and all want the sleeve now - problem is a lot of insurances still don't cover it so it is relatively low number for most doctors on experience . I think experience isn't just in the particular surgery but about techniques also. I stuck with my surgeon, had my sleeve Monday and am very happy - no complications and no complaints! Also my hospital's program is a Bariatric Center of Excellence.

This sounds very similar to my situation. I'm leaning toward sticking with the doctor.

[Indymom 132]

I'm not sure how many VSGs my surgeon had done, but he had literally thousands of RNY and specialized in laparascopic surgery. My hospital was a COE and had a dedicated bari wing. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly! I didn't even think to ask him how many sleeves he'd done, I figured that with the RNY being more complex I was in good hands.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

The RNY is a much more complicated surgery. If any surgeon has done a lot of gastric bypass (RNY) they are more than capable of doing a sleeve. It's the staple line that is important and the would have done many staple lines if they have been doing gastric bypass for years.