Weight Loss Procedures

Introducing Allurion – a gentle, ingestible balloon designed to reside in your stomach without the need for surgery, endoscopy, or anesthesia. This groundbreaking gastric balloon aims to support your journey towards a healthier lifestyle by curbing your food intake.

Experience an average weight loss of 10-15% of total body weight over 16 weeks, thanks to the balloon and an accompanying comprehensive lifestyle program.

How does the Allurion Balloon function?

The balloon occupies space in your stomach, fostering a sense of fullness that diminishes hunger and promotes reduced food consumption during meals.

Key benefits include:

1. Rapid satisfaction, prompting smaller portions.
2. Inducing a prolonged feeling of fullness, potentially decreasing cravings.
3. Extended retention of food in the stomach, potentially reducing snacking.

The placement of the balloon is a swift, 20-minute procedure during a consultation with your doctor. By swallowing a capsule containing the deflated balloon, attached to a thin tube, there is no need for surgery, endoscopy, or anesthesia. A simple X-ray ensures accurate capsule positioning.

During the procedure, the surgeon fills the balloon with liquid using the attached tube, confirmed by a second X-ray. Subsequently, the tube is gently removed, allowing you to eat less without experiencing hunger.

Approximately 16 weeks later, a time-activated release valve opens, enabling the balloon to naturally empty and pass through your digestive system when you use the toilet. This convenient and safe method jumpstarts a healthier lifestyle. In rare instances, the empty balloon may be expelled through vomiting (2% chance), although such occurrences have not been linked to any reported adverse events to date.

For more information, visit www.allurion.com.

Surgeon: Dr. William Braun
Location: WMSA Clinic

If you don't want to go the surgery route, you can obtain a prescription for weight loss medication through our GP/Surgeon. This service is only available in conjunction with our metabolic program, which includes Clinical Care support to ensure healthy, long-lasting weight loss results.

Our team at Health Volition will do everything we can to ensure that your weight loss treatment is not only transformational, but future-proofed. In some cases, revision procedures are required due to clinical reasons or patients regaining weight.

When considering a second procedure for weight loss, it’s essential to explore all available options and understand the recommendations and assessments provided by our Health Volition team. We prioritise your well-being and are dedicated to guiding you towards the most suitable path for achieving your weight loss goals.

One common scenario we encounter is the conversion from a Gastric Band to Roux-En Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB). This conversion can offer several advantages, including excellent results with over 85% excess weight loss, improved sense of fullness (satiety), superior appetite suppression, and laparoscopic performance in a single step – with the same recovery time as a primary procedure.

Our philosophy for all of our revisional procedures is rooted in evidence-based practices and forward-thinking strategies.

We also offer Gastric Band to One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass (OAGB), Gastric Band to Sleeve Gastrectomy (Two Steps), and Sleeve Gastrectomy to Roux-En Y Gastric Bypass. Each conversion option offers its own set of benefits and considerations. For example, Band to OAGB may provide rapid weight loss and reduced risk of nutritional deficiencies, while Band to Sleeve Gastrectomy may offer a less complex surgical approach.

Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the risks, benefits, advantages, and disadvantages associated with each procedure, the decision rests with you.

Plus, if you're an existing weight loss surgery patient at Health Volition, you'll receive $1000 off your surgery!

Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy, commonly known as Gastric Sleeve Surgery, represents a restrictive surgical option offered at our weight loss surgery clinic, ideal for achieving substantial weight loss without necessitating significant anatomical alterations.

Procedure for Gastric Sleeve Surgery:

This technique involves reducing the amount of food intake by diminishing the size of the stomach. A thin vertical sleeve or tube is created using a surgical stapling device, and the remaining portion of the stomach is then removed and discarded. The entire process is conducted through keyhole surgery. The resulting sleeve can accommodate approximately 50-100 ml, roughly 1/10th of the stomach's usual capacity. Despite the significant reduction in size, the stomach continues to function normally.

Advantages of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery:

Key benefits of this procedure include limiting mealtime food consumption, ensuring the full absorption of vitamins and nutrients through the usual digestive tract order, and eliminating the need for postoperative adjustments.

This surgery is particularly suitable for patients with a lower body mass index (BMI). In our Brisbane weight loss surgery clinic, patients typically experience an average weight loss of 70% of their excess weight within the initial 9 to 12 months post-surgery.

Surgeon: Dr. Justin Greenslade
Hospitals: Brisbane Private (Spring Hill), Greenslopes Private (Greenslopes)

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery, commonly referred to as Gastric Bypass Surgery, integrates both restrictive and malabsorptive elements into the procedure.

In a restrictive aspect, adjustments are made to the stomach capacity, while the malabsorptive component alters the structure of the digestive tract, thereby reducing the absorption of calories. This widely performed procedure is recognised as the gold standard in laparoscopic weight loss surgery by the American Society of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery.

Gastric Bypass weight loss surgery yields early sensations of fullness and satisfaction, contributing to a reduced desire to eat, among other beneficial effects.

Procedure for Gastric Bypass Surgery:

This surgery involves stapling to create a small stomach pouch. The remaining portion of the stomach is then stapled shut and separated from the newly formed pouch in the lower stomach. The resulting pouch directly empties into the jejunum, bypassing calorie absorption in the duodenum. This occurs by dividing the small intestine just after the duodenum and establishing a connection with the smaller stomach pouch, creating two distinct channels in the intestinal tract—one for food and the other for digestive juices.

Advantages of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass:

Post-Gastric Bypass surgery, the average excess weight loss tends to be higher compared to procedures solely focused on restriction, reaching up to 80% body weight loss. Another significant benefit is the restriction on food intake due to the smaller stomach pouch created during the procedure. Additionally, this surgery induces 'Dumping Syndrome,' discouraging sugar consumption by causing discomfort after sugar consumption. While unpleasant, Dumping Syndrome is not dangerous and proves effective in modifying behavior and reducing sugar intake. This procedure is particularly beneficial for cases of uncontrolled diabetes and significant reflux disease.

Medical Professionals:
Surgeon: Dr. Justin Greenslade
Hospitals: Brisbane Private (Spring Hill), Greenslopes Private (Greenslopes)

Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery, also recognized as Single Anastomosis Gastric Bypass or the Omega Loop Gastric Bypass, serves as an alternative to the traditional Gastric Bypass Surgery.

While maintaining a restrictive nature, this procedure is comparatively simpler and can be completed in less time than the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass option. Theoretically, Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery may lead to fewer complications.

Experiencing a recent resurgence after its popularity before the 1970s, this procedure has regained prominence thanks to advancements in keyhole surgery, offering a swift and efficient gastric bypass alternative. It proves to be more effective in weight loss as it eliminates the food channel, albeit at the potential cost of biliary reflux.

Procedure for Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery:

During this procedure, the stomach is divided with a stapler, resulting in a substantial portion of the stomach no longer being attached. The newly formed, smaller stomach will bypass between 2 to 7 feet of intestines.

The detached larger portion of the stomach will continue to produce digestive juices, aiding digestion, but it will no longer come into contact with food. This procedure involves less re-routing of intestines compared to regular gastric bypass surgery, with one fewer anastomosis (intestinal connection).

Benefits of the Omega Loop Gastric Bypass:

This procedure yields significant weight loss results comparable to or even surpassing those of traditional gastric bypass surgery. The likelihood of complications is lower due to the technically simpler surgical process for the surgeon.

Since the original stomach remains in the body and functional, this procedure is easily reversible if necessary. Recognizing the numerous benefits it offers, our weight loss clinic in Brisbane presents this procedure as a valid and advantageous option for weight loss.

Surgeon: Dr. Justin Greenslade
Hospitals: Brisbane Private (Spring Hill), Greenslopes Private (Greenslopes)

Our top Australian surgeons will not only perform your surgical or non-surgical procedure but will also be on hand during your 6 or 12-month After Care Program (depending on your procedure) to ensure everything is running smoothly with your treatment. Regular reviews will be scheduled so the team can check in on your progress and help wherever they can.

Once you decide to proceed with your weight loss procedure, our nurse will be the first person to contact you. They will gather all the necessary clinical information from you to prepare you for the big day. Following your procedure, they will be available, both via phone and in person, to help you, according to your needs, throughout your 6 or 12-month After Care Program (depending on your procedure).

Depending on your booking timing, you'll receive 1-2 consultations before your procedure. These sessions focus on a comprehensive dietary assessment, evaluating your nutritional status, and providing a prescription for guided preparation leading up to the weight loss surgery or non-surgical procedure. Following that, you will be reviewed regularly throughout your dietary phase to solid food and thereafter every 3-4 weeks during your 6 or 12-month After Care Program (depending on your procedure).

Before your weight loss surgery or non-surgical procedure, you will complete a questionnaire for our psychologist to review. Following your procedure, we'll reach out by phone about 1-2 weeks later to plan ongoing psychological reviews during your 6 or 12-month After Care Program (depending on your procedure). The timing of these reviews is dependent on your needs.

Before your weight loss surgery or non-surgical procedure, our exercise physiologist will conduct a session with you to assess your fitness level, medications, injuries, and any obstacles to your progress. After the placement, we recommend monthly catch-up and program planning sessions during your 6 or 12-month After Care Program (depending on your procedure).

We offer an introductory phone discussion to explore how hypnotherapy can support you on your weight loss journey. This session is optional. However, we provide two in-person sessions, recorded for your convenience for home listening, to provide additional support in achieving your goals.