A woman had part of her stomach surgically removed via her vagina in order to lose weight.
Gastrectomy is removal of part of the stomach that is used for weight loss. This restricts the amount of food that can eaten. Normally this is done through an abdominal incision.
Apparently a woman, who is 5 feet tall and weighed 253 pounds before the surgery, had about 80% of her stomach removed.
The surgeons went up the vagina, made a small incision behind the uterus (womb) into the abdomen to access the stomach. The stomach was stapled to make it small and then the excess was pulled through the abdomen and out of the vagina.
The idea of this method of access is part of a new trend to use natural body openings. The aim is to have less pain and trauma to the body. This is being called Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery, which is abbreviated to NOTES.
Other NOTES surgeries have included appendix removal through the mouth and also through the vagina. Thinking about the appendix being removed through the mouth, is much worse than the vagina.
Article with more details.
[tags]stomach, weight loss surgery, vagina[/tags]
