Gastric sleeve bougie size – Weight loss surgery in Tijuana Mexico with Long Term WLS/VSG

Does the bougie size really matter?…

Bariatric surgeries have become one of the most common and effective treatments to lose weight, there are so many variety of bariatric procedures; gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, duodenal switch, mini-gastric bypass, revision surgery… But nowadays, Gastric Sleeve surgery is the most popular of all; there are many techniques and important aspects to perform this type of surgery, bougie size is one that still remain controversial for surgeons and patients…

What is bougie size – Gastric Sleeve related

The “bougie” is basically a guide and measuring tool with the form of a thin and long tube used when the surgeon is dividing the stomach to form the VSG. The bougie is inserted in the patients mouth down the throat, towards the end of the stomach were it meets the pylorus via an esophageal dilator, after the “sleeve” is created the bougie is removed from the patient.

Can bougie size attribute success or failure of weight loss surgery?

It can play a very important role but it’s not what determinate the success of the surgery, as we showed you before on the table chart, the difference between a bougie size and other its minimal.

It’s pretty important to know that bougie size is not necessarily the same as the stomach size, although it can influence the size of the sleeve… For example, the smaller the bougie is, the smaller the stomach size would be, but the same bougie size doesn’t always create the same size of the stomach in every patient, what really determined the sleeve is how much close the staple gets to the guide and whether the surgeon over-sews the staple line.

There isn’t yet unanimous agreement on an ideal or standard bougie size that will provide the safest results with the most amount of weight loss. The success of the surgery or failure of the surgery is mostly based on the surgeon’s technique, for example; even though the surgeon uses a very small bougie size, he/she can staple very far or too close from the bougie.

Other facts:

• The standard bougie sizes in America are from 32F to 50F.
• Most commonly used bogie size in Europe is 60F.
• A smaller bougie size can create a smaller sleeve with a greater restriction, but it’s also a greater risk of leak and stricture rate.
• A larger bougie size to create the sleeve can lower the operation risk, but it may not produce enough weigh loss results.

How do I choose a proper bougie size?

This is basically up to the surgeon recommendation and technique, a proper bougie size is based on the patient input, height, weight, and surgeon skills.  In Long Term WLS/VSG our leading surgeon Dr. Maytorena generally uses a 37 and 38 bougie size to create proper sleeve, this sizes allows the surgeon to perform a safer procedure and weight loss result for the patient, the key of the success is the high standard technique that Dr. Maytorena have developed through many years of experience; he uses full staple lines and sews over them to create a tighter and consistent sleeve, also less likely to leak blood, air or bowel contents.

Bougie size recommendation:

If you’re planning or already schedule a gastric sleeve surgery, it’s very important to understand the rationale from your surgeon’s recommendation and discuss the details of the surgeon’s technique to feel comfortable with the size of your new stomach. Even though bougie size a factor to take in count or consideration, a healthy and effective weight loss depends on following the post operatory diet and guidelines, remember that the sleeve is only a tool to reduce and limit the food intake, but is up to you to choose the type of food and nutrients that you’re putting in to your body to reach greater and long term weight loss results.