Global bariatric surgery leader Hospital Angeles Tijuana is currently offering a bi-monthly webcast series for patients interested in learning more about the benefits of the innovative new restrictive weight loss surgery procedure Gastric Plication.

Gastric Plication, which gets it’s name from the ‘pleating’ effect of the specialized suturing involved, is a restrictive weight loss surgery developed in 2008 as a response to failed LAP BAND. The procedure, first presented at the 26th Pan-Hellenic Congress and the SFCE-MMESA Euro-Mediterranean & Middle East laparoscopic meeting in Bordeaux-France, and later reported in the Bariatric Times, involves no devices or stomach resection; Stomach capacity is restricted through the use of non-absorbable suturing.

More than 200 patients have received the procedure at Hospital Angeles, the undisputed global leader in gastric plication. The hospital has created a remarkable informational program, a free webcast series that enables patients to address questions to the treatment team. Attendees get the added benefit of saving $250 on the cost of the gastric plication medical travel program by Angeles, paying $7,250 (a reduction of more than $1,000 from the introductory price of $8,500).

In September 2010 gastroenterologist surgeon Dr. Juan Lopez Corvala, the Director of the Angeles weight loss surgery program as well as the President of the Mexican Association of Endoscopic Surgery and member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, presented findings from more than 100 gastric plication findings at the 15th Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO).

Findings support the consensus opinion issued by Brasilian gastroenterologist surgeons in the report “Laparoscopic Greater Curvature Plication: An Alternative Restrictive Bariatric Procedure” published in the Bariatric Times in May 2010: i.e. that the gastric plication procedure features the benefits of minimal risk of acute or late complications, while providing patients with weight loss that comes sooner and is more intense than restrictive gastric banding.

To qualify for plication, patients are required to have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or higher.