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Weight loss surgery is becoming a more popular choice for obese Americans. There were nearly 10 times as many weight loss procedures performed in 2005 as 1998. Gastric bypass surgery is a real option for patients, but it also comes with real risks. Nutritional deficiencies occur in more than 30 percent of patients and nausea and vomiting after eating occurs in up to 15 percent of patients. Other major risks include ulcers, hernias and even death.

SAFER APPROACH: A procedure that was once commonly used to treat ulcers, called a vagotomy, is now being tested as a safe weight loss surgery. Robert Lustig, M.D., from the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, says, "[Vagotomy] was actually the most common procedure done in this country between 1944 and 1978." But the way the procedure was performed back then for ulcers caused lot of undesirable side effects. Even so, doctors noticed that people who had the procedure for ulcers also lost weight. Because it was invasive and had bad side effects, the procedure fell to the wayside, especially as newer drugs and treatments for ulcers emerged and, of course, so did gastric bypass surgery for obesity. Doctors are now revisiting vagotomies as a way to lose weight. They have modified the procedure so that it is safe and side effects are minimal -- and they've also made it a laparoscopic procedure. For weight loss, the procedure can be done non-invasively with five small incisions in about 20 minutes.

WHAT IS IT? During a laparoscopic vagotomy, doctors actually go in and cut the vagus nerve in the esophagus. Dr. Lustig says, "The vagus nerve is the energy storage nerve. That's its job. That's part of why you get hunger is the vagus nerve from the stomach to the brain tells you, the stomach is empty, you need to eat." By cutting the nerve, Dr. Lustig can eliminate the severe hunger that many obese patients report. Their hunger just simply goes away. Dr. Lustig says, "The majority of the weight loss that's achieved is primarily in the first six months, nine months and then it definitely slows down. But they're not regaining it. They are actually keeping their weight down." More >>

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