Outpatient Bariatric Surgery at Premier SC
Tuesday, October 25th, 2022
Outpatient Bariatric Surgery at Premier Surgery Center
Bariatric surgery is the only effective, long term treatment for severe obesity. The Premier Surgery Center in Knoxville, TN now offers self-pay outpatient Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy.
Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy involves surgically removing approximately 85% of the stomach, resulting in a new stomach roughly the size and shape of a banana. It is a restrictive and metabolic operation and generates weight loss by restricting the amount of food (and therefore calories) that can be consumed. The procedure also affects the gastrointestinal tract hormones responsible for control of hunger and diabetes.
Expert Bariatric Surgical Care
Premier Bariatric Surgeon, Dr. Mark Colquitt, who also serves as the Medical Director of Foothills Weight Loss Surgeons and the Fort Sanders Center for Bariatric Surgery in Knoxville performs laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomies at the Premier Surgery Center.
We spoke with Dr. Colquitt to learn more about outpatient bariatric surgery at Premier Surgery Center.
Explain how the sleeve gastrectomy became one of the most commonly performed bariatric surgeries in the US.
Surgeons began performing the sleeve as a first stage of the Duodenal Switch (a larger and more complicated procedure.) Patients noticed that they were losing a lot of weight with just sleeve alone, and many of them elected to not go on with the rest of the surgery. Because of this, the sleeve itself became a more popular choice for bariatric and metabolic surgery around the world.
With the bypass, the surgeon is not actually removing anything, instead the food is rerouted away from the stomach and interesting resulting in weight loss. It’s a bigger, more risky surgery and may result in decreased absorption of nutrients and vitamins. Whereas with the Sleeve these rarely occur.
Who is a candidate for Sleeve Gastrectomy?
Typical outpatient sleeves are usually done on patients under 50 years old with a body mass index of around 50 or less. They are at least 18 years old with no significant cardiac or pulmonary diseases and are motivated to follow lifestyle changes and routine exercise. Our team will evaluate each patient for their candidacy for outpatient sleeve gastrectomy.
What are the advantages of having this procedure at the Premier Surgery Center?
If you’re self-pay, the cost at the surgery center is much less than at a hospital. That is a big advantage. Most of my patients are covered through insurance, but the few who aren’t covered through insurance pay a high amount when they go through the hospital.
At a surgery center, the focus is on outpatient procedures. The entire facility and staff are geared toward making sure patients are coming in, having a safe procedure and getting home safely. It’s more streamlined, whereas at a hospital, there is a small area dedicated to inpatient care, where only a few nurses will work with patients.
How is having outpatient Gastric Sleeve with you at the Premier Surgery Center different than the “bargain bariatric surgery” you see advertised by some physicians in places like Las Vegas and Mexico?
If you’re in the United States, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a high quality procedure as opposed to going elsewhere. Bargain surgeries appeal to patients because of the price, but pose some risks. If a patient flew out to Vegas for a procedure, and flew back home, anything could happen to that patient while away from the hospital. I prefer my patients to be within a safe driving distance of 4 or 5 hours of our office.
At the surgery center, we require our patients to attend classes, our online bariatric seminar, complete nutritional evaluations and psychology evaluations. We do see patients beforehand, and they can have both live and telemedicine follow-up appointments as well.
Are you a candidate for bariatric surgery?
Discover more about outpatient bariatric surgery at Premier Surgical Surgery Center in Knoxville, TN by visiting this link. Or contact the Foothills Weight Loss Surgeons office for more information at (865) 984-3413.
To learn more about Dr. Colquitt and his team, visit https://www.foothillsweightloss.com/our-program/.
