Success with bariatric surgery continues to improve as surgeons learn more about the disease of obesity and how the body functions. With new information and techniques, doctors are able to offer more options to obese individuals seeking medical help. One of the newest bariatric procedures performed for obesity treatment is Gastric Sleeve Surgery, also known as Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG). Gastric Sleeve Surgery involves removing a large portion of the stomach, while keeping both ends of the stomach as well as the small intestine intact. About the Procedure The Gastric Sleeve procedure helps with weight loss by reducing the size of the stomach and thereby restricting the amount of food that can be eaten at any one time. During surgery, the surgeon removes about three-quarters of the stomach along the outside curvature. The new stomach is the shape of a thin tube, which spans the original distance from quick house sale the esophagus to the small intestine. The pyloric valve, the normal outlet which controls the release of food from the stomach to the small intestine, continues to function normally. The surgery also helps to control hunger by removing the upper stomach portion, which is the area that produces the hunger stimulating hormone, ghrelin. The gastric sleeve is increasingly being performed as a stand-alone procedure, but many times it is considered the first step in a two part process. For patients who are either extremely obese or have so many health problems that they do not qualify for gastric bypass surgery, the gastric sleeve can be performed to help a patient start losing weight. After a few years of weight loss, a patient has usually lost enough weight so that the second step of the process can be completed, usually with the duodenal switch procedure, if further weight loss is desired. Gastric Sleeve vs.