The place where this research is happening is at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.

The surgery is fantastic because it reduces the pain involved in healing from a abdominal cut. The incision in a traditional laparoscopic bariatric procedure involving stomach removal can be much larger than that just a pinhole size. Cutting through the abdominal wall requires a longer recovery time and can bring about more pain to the patient.

A natural orifice for the stomach removal is perfect for quicker recovery so the patient can return to everyday life much faster. Overall, the procedure isn’t very much different than traditional laparoscopic bariatric surgery except that it does go through the mouth instead of through the abdomen.

Incisionless bariatric surgery is the closest direct path to the stomach, the mouth. Believe it or not, the portion of the stomach comes up out of the mouth from out of the esophagus. As a matter of fact, 80% of the stomach can be removed this way.

Doctors at this point want to make sure that the surgery will be safe for patients short and long-term. All surgeries have associated risk, yet this surgery is very promising for limiting much of the risk factors for bariatric patients in the near future. The feedback so far is very promising. If the incisionless surgical procedure demonstrates a high level of safety, it will quickly become very commonplace in the bariatric centers around the world.