A gastroplasty method involves a staple line that terminates prior to reaching the gastroesophageal junction such that the bypassed portion of the stomach does not require resection. Additionally, bougies are taught that assist a physician in following the improved staple line of the present invention.

Systems and methods for effecting bariatric procedures are disclosed. Each system includes an instrument, a control valve and, optionally, a suction controller. The instrument is in the form of an elongated, flexible member having a distal end portion arranged for anchoring the instrument in the patient's stomach and for enabling fluids to be removed from the patient's stomach. Suction is applied to the patient's stomach by the distal end portion of the instrument to drain gastric fluids and to bring adjacent portions of the patient's stomach into engagement with the instrument to provide a visually perceptible delineation line along which a portion of the stomach may be resected, sealed and tested.

A bariatric device includes an esophageal member having an esophageal surface that is configured to generally conform to the shape and size of a portion of the esophagus and an anchoring technique anchoring the esophageal member to the portion of the esophagus. The bariatric device includes a cardiac member having a cardiac surface that is configured to generally conform to the shape and size of a portion of the cardiac portion of the stomach and a connector connected with the esophageal member and the cardiac member to cause strain to be applied by the cardiac member to the cardiac portion of the stomach. The strain applied by the cardiac member to the cardiac portion of the stomach causes satiety in the absence of food. The connector is adapted to pass through the gastroesophageal junction while leaving a continuous portion of the gastroesophageal junction substantially unrestrained.

Systems and methods for effecting bariatric procedures are disclosed. Each system includes an instrument, a control valve and, optionally, a suction controller. The instrument is in the form of an elongated, flexible sizing member having a distal end portion arranged for anchoring in the patient's stomach and for enabling fluids to be removed from the patient's stomach. The elongated flexible sizing member is configured to produce near infrared fluorescence to facilitate its location within the patient's stomach and to provide visual information about location of certain relevant internal anatomical features. Suction is applied to the patient's stomach by the distal end portion of the instrument to drain gastric fluids and to bring adjacent portions of the patient's stomach into engagement with the instrument to provide a visually perceptible delineation line along which a portion of the stomach may be resected, sealed and tested.

A gastroplasty method involves a staple line that terminates prior to reaching the gastroesophageal junction such that the bypassed portion of the stomach does not require resection. Additionally, bougies are taught that assist a physician in following the improved staple line of the present invention.

The invention relates surgical abdominal methods of treating obesity in a patient by implanting a volume filling device that, when implanted in a patient, reduces the food cavity in size by a volume substantially exceeding the volume of the volume filling device. Also disclosed is a laparoscopic instrument for providing a volume filling device to be invaginated in the stomach wall of a human patient to treat obesity.

An obesity treatment apparatus comprises at least one operable stretching device implantable in an obese patient and adapted to stretch a portion of the patient's stomach wall, and an operation device for operating the stretching device when implanted to stretch the stomach wall portion such that satiety is created.

A gastric outflow device is described. The gastric outflow device includes a ring having a ring aperture; and a topper having a topper aperture, the topper attachable to the ring, the topper aperture alignable with the ring aperture to form the gastric outflow device aperture. The gastric outflow device aperture can be adjusted wirelessly, percutaneously, by replacing the topper, and/or by including an expandable compartment surrounding the aperture, the expandable compartment increasing and decreasing the gastric outflow device aperture on being filled with filling material and having the filling material extracted, respectively.

A post gastrectomy anchoring procedure comprises anchoring a sleeve created by a gastrectomy to tissue structure that can better immobilize the sleeve to reduce complications relating to mobility of the sleeve. Namely, the anchoring procedure secures one or more portions of the sleeve to retroperitoneal fat of a patient. One or more bindings attach the sleeve to the retroperitoneal fat. The bindings can be installed to hold the sleeve in a bent or other shape, such as to mimic the natural shape of the patient's stomach and maintain an opening in the angularis of the sleeve.

There is provided a partitioning device to partition a hollow organ of a digestive tract of a patient in the context of digestive surgeries. The partitioning device includes a magnet assembly implantable into an abdominal cavity of the patient, the magnet assembly including a plurality of magnet elements flexibly connected in series. The magnet assembly is configured to be positioned extraluminally around at least a portion of an outer surface of the hollow organ to magnetically couple opposite magnet elements together to compress opposite walls of the hollow organ therebetween until opposite walls of the hollow organ are fused together, thereby partitioning the hollow organ. The magnet elements can be received in a housing and have various shapes. The partitioning device can include additional features such as a leading elongated member that can aid in the positioning of the partitioning device, and a trailing elongated member.