City doctors have recently performed Asia’s first single-port laparoscopic bariatric (sleeve gastrectomy) surgery on a 30-year-old woman from Trivandrum. Sleeve gastrectomy is a surgical weight loss procedure in which the patient’s stomach is reduced to about 15% of its original size.

“In this procedure stomach is stapled to form a sleeve, hence the name. The surgery leads to reduced food consumption thereby resulting in quick and sustained weight loss,” said Dr Muffazal Lakdawala of Centre for Obesity and Diabetes Support (CODS).

While traditional laparoscopic surgery requires at least five incisions, surgeons at Saifee Hospital performed the surgery by making a single incision—not more than 2cm in size— in the patient’s belly. She was suffering from sleep apnea, hypertension and joint pain and was a pre-diabetic too. It took around an hour to perform the surgery and she was discharged the next day.

“For patients who want to minimise scarring, the single-port approach is a good option. Usually, laparoscopic surgery requires at least five incisions,” said Dr Lakdawala.

“The single-port technique is more technically challenging because all the instruments are functioning from a very small area,” said Dr Lakdawala who is also vice president of Obesity Surgery Society of India (OSSI). “Patients appreciate the cosmetic benefit of this scarless procedure. Single incision method also minimises discomfort and shortens healing time.”