StomaphyX: Gastric bypass surgery without the incision

Miami, FL

Doctors have announced a ground-breaking procedure. It allows them to perform surgery without making an incision, anywhere. CBS4's Dr. Sean Kenniff explains how it works.

Darlene Dillard lost 100 pounds with gastric bypass. But like 1/4 of people who undergo obesity surgery, a few years later she started to gain weight back.

"I had gained about 30 pounds outside of my range of weight," said Dillard.

Instead of operating again, doctors did something drastically different. It's called Stomaphyx--a natural orifice surgery.

"It is going to be a totally different new era of surgery," said Dr. Michel Gagner from Miami's Mount Sinai Medical Center.

He says it really is a surgical revolution -- with no incisions surgical instruments are inserted through natural orifices. In this case: Darlene's mouth, to make her stomach pouch smaller.

CBS4's Dr. Sean Kenniff said natural orifice surgery isn't limited to obesity procedures. Doctors are now perfecting techniques to treat everything from appendicitis to cancer."

"Removal of part of the liver, removal of adrenal, removal of part of the stomach, doing bowel connections," explained Dr. Gagner.

And many other procedures are being performed through the rectum, esophagus and vagina.

" It's just the beginning, it's going to explode in the next five years, you're going to be hearing a lot more about this," said Dr. Gagner.

With Darlene's weight loss, her medical problems disappeared.

"There was borderline diabetes, borderline hypertension," explained Darlene. "I had stress fractures of my feet."

And she hopes the new no-incision surgery will keep the pounds, and those problems away.

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Stompaphyx gastric bypass revision

Miami Beach, FL

A quarter of a million obese Americans undergo gastric bypass surgery for weight loss every year, but 20 percent of those surgeries will fail with time, doctors said.

That's what happened to Darlene Dillard, who regained 30 pounds after losing 100.

"My gastric bypass started failing five to six years out of the surgery," she said. "Increased appetite, the urge to eat constantly."

So, Dillard became the first South Florida patient to have Stomaphyx, a natural orifice surgery performed without any incisions.

"There's a suction apparatus that sucks the inside of the pouch, then we fire this double T fastener," said Dr. Michel Gagner of Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The suction creates folds that reduce the stomach size. In Dillard's case, doctors said they had to use 18 T fasteners around her stomach.

"I do have some discomfort in the lower chest area," Dillard said. "Not pain, just discomfort."

Dillard's doctors said they worry about bleeding from inside from the fasteners.

"They can create a little amount of bleeding," Gagner said.

Dillard said 24 hours after the procedure she was ready to go home.

Stomaphyx is for patients who have regained weight after bariatric surgery.

"It's going to be more for the 100 pounds or less of weight loss," Gagner said. "Because it is a restrictive operation. It restricts the volume in the inside of the stomach."

Mount Sinai Medical Center is one of only two hospitals using Stomaphyx for gastric bypass revision.

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StomaphyX: New procedure for gastric bypass surgery patients

Los Angeles, CA

A new procedure could help gastric bypass surgery patients who may need a second surgery.

The device is called stomaphyx and only a handful of surgeons are trained to use it.

It's inserted through the mouth to do corrective surgery in order to shrink the stomach again.

The good news, doctors don't have to cut the patient open, but there's a catch.

"We can fix the stomach, but if they don't fix their lifestyle and if they don't get involved in the support groups and follow ups with the surgeon then the stomach won't work the way they want it to work," said Dr. Julie Ellner, Alvardo Surgical Weight Loss Director.

Doctors recommend repeated follow-up visits, and a committment to exercise and nutritional programs.

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Mercy Medical in Rockville Center leads StomaphyX bariatric surgery project

Rockville Center, NY

Dr. Shawn Garber, chief of bariatric surgery at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, and a hospital team have been training surgeons from across the country in a noninvasive procedure that reduces stomach size in patients who have had previous weight-loss surgery.

Mercy is one of just three hospitals nationwide -- the others are in Ohio and Florida -- selected by EndoGastric Solutions of Redmond, Wash., to train surgeons how to use its StomaphyX device to perform stomach surgery without making an incision. In addition to Garber, Dr. Spencer Holover also performs the StomaphyX procedure.

The device is inserted into the mouth and through the esophagus to the stomach, where it can tighten existing pouches formed by previous gastric bypass surgery. During bypass, surgeons make a pouch out of a small portion of the stomach, and food is directed to it. The pouch's small size makes patients feel full sooner, helping them to eat less and lose weight. More >>

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StomaphyX: Incisionless Gastric Bypass Surgery Revision

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When weight loss stalls or other problems arise years after gastric bypass, the surgery can be successfully revised with an incisionless, from-the-inside approach, researchers from Ohio State University in Columbus report.

The technique, involves the use of a device called StomaphyX, which has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The device is inserted with an endoscope via the mouth into the stomach, where suction pulls the stomach walls against the device. Staple-like fasteners are then deployed to create pleats in the walls, effectively reducing the size of the stomach.

"The incisionless surgery helps to recreate the patient's smaller stomach, causing early satiety and further weight loss," Dr. Dean Mikami, a surgeon involved in the development of StomaphyX and the first to perform the operation in the US, said in a statement. "This is currently the only endoscopic or nonsurgical way to reduce the size of the stomach after gastric bypass surgery."

Since April, a total of 22 such gastric bypass revisions have been performed at OSU. On average, patients dropped 10 pounds after 1 month, 15 pounds after 2 months, and 20 pounds after 3 months.

According to Mikami, between 10 and 15 percent of patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery will require a revision 2 to 15 years later.

Good candidates for treatment with StomaphyX, Mikami said, include those who have regained some of their weight after gastric bypass surgery and are compliant with their diet, exercise regularly, and do not experience early satiety during meals.

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