title: Endoscopic vertical band gastroplasty with an endoscopic sewing machine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vertical band gastroplasty is an accepted surgical operation for the treatment of obesity. It is performed by means of an open technique. This is a description of a new endoscopic technique for gastroplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  An endoscopic sewing machine was mounted on a flexible upper endoscope. On a postmortem specimen of porcine gastroesophageal tissue an area of the stomach, about 8-cm long and 4-cm wide, extending from and in line with the esophagus, was marked. A flexible plastic ring about 3 cm in diameter was sutured to the stomach along the lesser curvature at 8 cm from the gastroesophageal junction with an endoscopic sewing machine. Vertical gastroplasty was accomplished by suturing together the anterior and posterior walls of the stomach with the endoscopic sewing machine. Hence, a gastroplasty was fashioned as an 8-cm-long tube along the lesser curvature of the stomach extending from the gastroesophageal junction to the outlet ring.
  
  
  METHODS
  An endoscopic gastroplasty for obesity was successfully performed by using an endoscopic sewing machine on a postmortem specimen of porcine stomach.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The technical feasibility of endoscopic vertical ring gastroplasty should be tested in a live animal model. This will serve as the next phase in the development of this interventional endoscopic technique, which has potential for clinical applicability.
authors.affiliation: Denton Regional Medical Center, Denton, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Amjad N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Awan
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Swain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D015391:Gastroplasty / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020699:Gastroscopes; D006801:Humans; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013552:Swine