Terminology note: TOGA(r) is a registered trademark of Satiety, Inc., the company that makes the device. I am in no way associated with that company. This is merely an informative article about a new medical technique and is not intended to be an endorsement.
Right now, about a dozen obesity centers in the United States are recruiting patients for clinical trials of a procedure known as transoral gastroplasty, or TOGA for short. This new approach to weight loss surgery eliminates the need for surgical incisions. Instead of entering through the stomach, as with a traditional gastric bypass, a flexible device is inserted through the mouth. With the help of an experienced surgeon, the device is guided into the stomach area where the next step, stapling, takes place.
According to the abstract posted on the National Institutes of Health clinical trials website: “The TOGA procedure is an incisionless treatment that uses a set of flexible staplers that are inserted into the mouth and esophagus to create a sleeve in the stomach. …The TOGA sleeve limits the amount of food that can be eaten and gives the patient a feeling of satiety after a small meal.”
If you are familiar with bariatric procedures in general, the last part will be familiar to you. Although this new technique uses a different entry point (the mouth), it achieves the same end result as gastric bypass: it segments the stomach to reduce the patient’s gastronomic capacity. If the patient feels full on less food, weight loss will soon follow.
At the time of writing this article (October 2008), the new procedure is not yet available nationwide. The Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the new device and technique. Pending the results of the clinical trials, which are scheduled to conclude in 2010, FDA approval could very well follow.
The rise of less invasive techniques
This technique is an example of the growing popularity of less invasive surgeries. As medical technology advances, new pathways are used to perform the same function. The distinction between “open” versus “laparoscopic” surgery is often used to describe these differences. For one, you have a procedure that makes larger incisions to “open up” the patient for the surgeon. With laparoscopic techniques, on the other hand, the incisions are much smaller as a result of the use of innovative and tiny devices such as cameras, cutting tools, and (in the case of the TOGA procedure) stomach staplers as well.
Most of the less invasive alternatives to open surgery offer several key benefits. They are generally less painful afterwards, as a result of the smaller incisions, and they also minimize recovery time.
* In addition to the resource provided below, we encourage you to visit TogaClinicalStudy.com for more information on this topic.