LGCP: A Promising New Weight Loss Procedure
October 21, 2011, by Stephen G. Boyce, MD, FACS, FASMBS
Over the course of my more than 20-year career in weight loss surgery, I’ve completed thousands of weight loss procedures and experienced the joy of helping my patients transform their lives. I’m passionate about the work that I do and am committed to staying at the forefront in our industry.
That’s why it’s important to me that New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery [http://www.newlifebariatricsurgery.com] is the only Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence in East Tennessee to offer all approved bariatric surgery procedures, and I am so pleased to be one of only 45 surgeons across the country selected for training to perform laparoscopic greater curvature placation (LGCP). LGCP is an investigational weight loss procedure that offers a potentially less invasive and less expensive alternative to other surgical weight loss procedures. LGCP may be a good alternative for patients 18-70 years of age and with BMIs from 30-50. A woman standing 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 174 pounds has a BMI of 30.
In an LGCP procedure, the stomach is surgically altered to significantly reduce the amount of food that can be eaten. While additional studies are needed to evaluate long-term outcomes, five-year weight loss results have remained fairly consistent, with patients maintaining a weight loss of more than 50 percent of excess weight.
Based on early clinical data, the procedure offers some potentially significant advantages:
- It has lower complication rates than traditional procedures;
- It is less expensive than traditional procedures;
- It doesn’t require a resection or rerouting of the bowel, like gastric bypass;
- There is no foreign object placed in the body, like gastric banding procedures;
- It produces effective surgical weight loss at 12 months;
- It produces better weight loss results than gastric band procedures and potentially requires fewer follow-up doctor visits;
- It is reversible; and
- It is approved for patients down to a BMI of only 30.
The approval for someone with a BMI of 30 is significant because it opens up the procedure to many more people. Also, individuals considering weight loss surgery often say that they have concerns about long hospital stays and long recovery periods requiring them to miss work. LGCP may be performed as day surgery or with an overnight hospital stay, and most patients will be able to return to an office job within two weeks of surgery.
I am encouraged by the promise of this new procedure, and am excited to be able to offer it as another weight loss option for my patients. To learn more about LGCP, register to attend one of our free seminars on surgical weight loss options held in Knoxville, Oak Ridge or Sevierville. To register, call 865-694-9676 or visit our website.
Connect with Us
“Premier Edge” email newsletter: http://www.premiersurgical.com/connect/newsletter
Premier on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/premiersurgical
Premier on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/premiersurgical
| Share This on Facebook |  Share This on Twitter |
Posted in Bariatric Surgery | Comments (0) Click here to get the RSS feed for these comments.