Will I Be Asleep During My Gastric Sleeve Procedure?

Last Updated on July 29, 2020

Gastric sleeve surgery, sometimes called a sleeve gastrectomy, is a surgical procedure involving the stomach portion of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract.  Like any other GI surgery, general anesthesia is used, which means, yes, you will be completely asleep during your sleeve gastrectomy.

Why You Need to Be Asleep During the Surgery

Gastric sleeve procedures are a type of bariatric surgery, or weight-loss surgery, intended for patients with obesity who have tried to lose weight through diet and exercise programs, but failed to do so.

Sleeve gastrectomies involve the removal of about 70% of your stomach, leaving a smaller, banana-shaped stomach, or “sleeve”. A smaller stomach means that when you eat your regular food, you feel full sooner, so you eat a smaller amount of food and enjoy long-term weight loss. 

The benefits of a gastric sleeve versus other bariatric surgical procedures, like a gastric bypass, are enhanced by the fact that the part of the stomach that’s removed is responsible for most of the production of the hormone ghrelin, which triggers your feelings of hunger. 

General anesthesia is given during a sleeve gastrectomy so that you feel no pain and have no memory of the surgery. Anesthesia will be administered by a board-certified anaesthesiologist.

Starting before the anesthesia is given, and lasting throughout the surgery, many of your vital body functions, including your breathing rate, body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, are monitored by the anesthesiologist, whose only job is to make sure you are safe while you’re asleep and that you remain pain-free during the entire procedure.

To learn more about bariatric surgery, check out our article “4 Misconceptions of Bariatric Surgery”.