Bariatric Surgery in Cancun – Mexico

Cost of Bariatric Surgery in Cancun

Cancun’s Top Bariatric Surgeon

• Medical Tourism Corporation has a renowned bariatric surgeon in Cancun in its panel who has performed more than 3,000 weight loss surgical procedures in the past 12 years with zero complication rates.
• He is an internationally trained and board-certified surgeon who did his medical internship at the Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami, in 2001.
• The dearth of well-trained bariatric surgeons in Mexico has made him a sought-after mentor for educating general surgeons in the field.
• He is invited to all the major weight loss surgery training programs held in Mexico in which he demonstrates weight loss surgeries, besides imparting theoretical lectures on the subject.
• The surgeon is a prominent member of the IFSO.

Useful Travel Information

• Cancun is served by its own international airport (IATA: CUN).
• The hospital where we facilitate weight loss surgery is just about 25 minutes from the airport.
• While most businesses accept US dollars, having some pesos in your pocket will always come in handy, especially for shopping at the local markets or zipping through the city on a bus.
• Pay attention to the color of beach flags; while green signifies safe waters for swimming, red and yellow depict caution and danger.
• While most of the eateries in the Hotel Zone provide purified water, when venturing out of the area exercise caution and stick to bottled water.

Cancun’s popularity with international travelers has been on the rise. According to the Yucatan Times, the resort city is expected to receive 9 million international arrivals in 2025.

Th following chart shows the growth in the number of international visitors to the city:

Broad Classification of Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgeries can be broadly classified as:

Restrictive Procedures

• The main focus is to restrict the quantity of food the individual can eat.
• This is done by physically limiting the capacity of the stomach to hold food.
• Examples are gastric sleeve and gastric balloon.

Malabsorptive Procedures

• Bariatric surgeries focusing on malabsorption involve either shortening or bypassing a portion of the small intestine which results in reduced absorption of nutrients and calories by the body.
• An example of a malabsorptive bariatric surgery are biliopancreatic diversion with or without duodenal switch (BPD-DS).

Mixed Procedures

• These are a combination of mild restriction and malabsorption.
• Examples are Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and mini gastric bypass.

Types of Weight Loss Surgery

Gastric Sleeve

• Also known as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), the laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery is a restrictive weight loss surgery which involves removal of nearly 80% of the stomach.
• The remnant stomach resembles a banana or a sleeve.
• According to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), while the gastric sleeve substantially reduces ones eating capacity, the greater impact is achieved by how the surgery alters the gut hormones that have a direct bearing on hunger levels as well as how soon you feel stated, along with the impact on blood sugar levels.¹
• The surgery involves removal of a part of the stomach fundus which also eliminates the hunger inducing hormone called ghrelin.

Benefits

• Reduces the capacity of the stomach to hold food.
• According to Cleveland Clinic, one can expect to lose 40 to 70% of excess weight within 1 year of the surgery.²
• The clinic further states that the resolution of diabetes, hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea is observed in more than 75% of the individuals who undergo gastric sleeve surgery. 

Disadvantages

• Non-reversible
• Likelihood of long term vitamin deficiencies
• Higher rate of complications than in adjustable gastric banding

Gastric Bypass

• The “gold standard” of bariatric surgery, the Roux-en-Y bypass (RYGB) has two elements to it.
• Firstly, a small pouch with a capacity of just an ounce or 30 millimeters is created out of the top portion of the stomach.
• The bottom portion of the small intestine (jejunum) is dragged up and joined with the new stomach pouch.
• The other end of the divided small intestine is joined with the small intestine further down, thereby giving it a Y shape (hence the name Roux-en-Y).
• This causes a segment of the small intestine that absorbs calories and nutrients to be bypassed.
• A combination of restriction (achieved by the small stomach pouch) and malabsorption (caused by rerouting the intestine) results in weight loss.
• Additionally, rerouting the path through which food gets absorbed alters gut hormones that further helps curb hunger, promotes fullness despite eating smaller meals, and also reverses type 2 diabetes.

Benefits

• Substantial long-term weight loss (60 to 80% of excess weight loss, according to ASMBS)
• An average maintenance of more than 50% of excess weight lost

Disadvantages

• More complex than gastric sleeve and banding with higher complication rates
• Long term nutritional deficiencies (vitamin B12, iron, folate, calcium)
• Longer hospitals stay

Mini Gastric Bypass

• Also known as One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass (OAGB), the mini gastric bypass surgery involves creating a smaller pouch out of the stomach and reconnecting it with the small intestine, bypassing 3 meters of it instead of 1.5 meters in the regular bypass.
• While the traditional Roux-en-Y requires two connections, the mini bypass requires only one.

Benefits

The International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) states the following advantages of mini gastric bypass surgery:

• Relatively simpler than RYGB
• Shorter operating time
• Fewer surgical complications compared to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
• More weight loss and better resolution rates of diabetes than Roux-en-Y bypass

The following table shows excess weight loss (in percent) post mini gastric bypass:³

Disadvantage

Severe acid reflux caused by gastric juices traveling back from the intestine into the new stomach pouch.

Gastric Balloon

• An intragastric balloon requires placing a saline-filled silicone balloon in the gastric space.
• It aids in weight loss by making the individual feel full after eating small quantities of food.
• It is preferred to gastric banding in individuals with a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) between 30 and 35.
• The procedure involves sliding a narrow tube loaded with the deflated gastric balloon down your throat while making its way into the stomach.
• This is followed by the insertion of an endoscopic (a flexi tube with a camera) down the throat and into the stomach.
• The camera relays the video stream of the balloon to the surgeon as (s)he fills it up with saline.
• The procedure typically takes 30 minutes.

Benefits

• Reduced gastric emptying time
• Changes in gut hormones that control appetite, thereby reducing hunger
• Improvement or resolution of co-morbidities of obesity, including heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, sleeve apnea and type 2 diabetes

Disadvantages

• Pain and nausea post insertion of the balloon (reported by Mayo Clinic in about a third of the individuals)
• Deflation of the balloon
• Blockage of the digestive system caused by the deflation and displacement of the gastric balloon
• Perforation of the stomach or ulceration, both of which require a surgery

Revision Weight Loss Surgery

Under some cases, failure of the initial bariatric surgery may require a second procedure or a revision procedure.

Check out this video in which the surgeon explains revision procedures:

• Gastric re-sleeve
• Gastric sleeve to gastric bypass/mini gastric bypass
• Lap band to gastric sleeve
• Lap band to gastric bypass/mini gastric bypass
• Gastric bypass to banded gastric bypass

For low cost bariatric surgery Cancun, Mexico can be looked into. Contact us now for information!

References:

1. ASMBS. Bariatric Surgery Procedures. Retrieved from https://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-procedures
2. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/bariatric/treatments/gastric-sleeve
3. Carbajo MA, Luque-de-León E, Jiménez JM, Ortiz-de-Solórzano J, Pérez-Miranda M, Castro-Alija MJ. Laparoscopic One-Anastomosis Gastric Bypass: Technique, Results, and Long-Term Follow-Up in 1200 Patients. Obesity Surgery. 2017;27(5):1153-1167. doi:10.1007/s11695-016-2428-1.