There have been two encouraging studies this month for the ESG (non-surgical sleeve).

The first was a small French study (from the IRCAD Centre in Strasbourg) that compared quality of life after ‘surgery’.

In the 46 patients reviewed it showed that those who had ESG reported slightly better quality of life scores after surgery than those who had surgical sleeve. The improvement was modest however. This study also looked at reflux symptoms, as did a study that was reported in the April 2019 Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Journal.

Both studies showed a significantly lower incidence of reflux disease after ESG than with surgical sleeve. With regard to weight loss, the US study showed 17.1% weight loss at 6 months with ESG, compared with 23.6% with the surgical sleeve.

So, a little less for the ESG, but the less invasive nature of the procedure, lower incidence of reflux and very slightly better quality of life score are compensations.Let us stress that these studies are small and short term.

Larger and longer term data will emerge in the years ahead with which to make a better comparison. For now however, they are further data in support of ESG.