Health Travel Guides has received some good news that we're pleased to pass along to Boomer's Abroad members!

The Irish medical device manufacturer Crospon has received FDA approval of it's latest innovation, the Endolumenal Functional Lumen Imaging Probe, or Endo-FLIP® , a device that enables the gastroenterologist surgeon, through multiple real-time digital views of the gastrointestinal tract, quantitatively customize a weight loss surgery patient's stomach restriction with a heretofore unknown precision.  

The Endo-FLIP is used to create a "Green Zone" for the LAP-BAND placement and sleeve size, enabling patient to lose weight sooner and faster after weight loss surgery.  

What is "Green Zone" Technology for Weight Loss Surgery

The EndoFLIP is an FDA approved device that uses non-radiographic imaging to measure cross sectional area and volume of the stomach and gastrointestinal tract in real time - sixteen times. .

This means that there is no guessing about the “right” size for a patient's  band, sleeve or plication - an issue that has always been addressed more through art  (as defined by experience) than science.  Rather, the use of the EndoFLIP® device allows a bariatric surgeon to set a consistent band stoma diameter at surgery for every patient, which  minimizes the risk of the band, pleat or staple line being too tight (leading to nausea, reflux or vomiting)….or too loose (resulting in low/slow weight loss) post-surgery

Pictured above, the Endo-FLIP system; at left, what it means when the restriction is 'just right'.

Dr. Lopez Corvala Gastroenterologist Surgeon

Dr. Lopez Corvala  is pictured here - I was able to not only interview him, but was treated to a walk-through demonstration of  the technology in a lecture to his international 'case management' team (virtual office assistants who distribute information to patients and handle logistics for patients who travel to his practice from outside of Mexico (Americans and Canadians easily comprise  more than 75% of his practice now).

According to Dr. Lopez Corvala (who is quite small and radiates an amazing energy and force of life, it's no wonder they call him 'the Little Giant of LAP-BAND) "precise results mean quicker, more efficient weight loss, and less chance of complications" for sleeve patients.  Band patients will need fewer adjustments, something to consider when planning for the type of surgery you will have.  Overall, Crospon has quantitatively demonstrated in clinical trials that patients in the Green Zone have the fewest problems and the best weight loss results.  It's great to see medical technology that improves outcomes and reduces risk at the same time. 

If you're even 30 lbs overweight your risks of heart disease and certain cancers, as well as Type 2 Diabetes, increase exponentially.  Thirty pounds isn't a lot -  especially when you're part of a population (as Americans are) in which two-thirds of the population meet the medical definition (BMI>30) of obesity, and one-third of those meet the medical definition of super or morbid obesith (BMI>40). 

Procedures such as the LAP-BAND are minimally invasive and reversible, a tool to help patients get on the road to health more quickly than many otherwise could after decades of weight gain, poor nutrition and sedentary behavior. 

Just Mexico for Now  I spoke with a representative at Crospon, and that conversation made it clear that it's uncertain when the Green Zone LAP-BAND, Green Zone Gastric Plication and Green Zone Gastric Sleeve will be available in the United States. Dr. Lopez Corvala has been one of the earliest surgeons performing with and demonstrating to other surgeons the precision sleeve sizing and band placement enabled by the Endo-FLIP, so Americans traveling to Mexico are in the most experienced hands possible.  

The medical travel package outlined here is exclusively offered to Health Travel Guides for Boomer's Abroad.  The Green Zone LAP-BAND program is $5950 with the following inclusions according to Health Travel Guide Leslie McDeavitt. Fill out this Health Travel Guides form, mention Boomer's, and save $100 on this package!

Click Here: Listen to Leslie on MedicalTravelTalk Radio Talking about Green Zone LAP-BAND.

• All surgeon and doctor fees
• 1-2 nights hospital stay *
• Round trip ground transportation from airport to Angeles medical complex
• Travel coordination services for you and any travel companions
• Automatic registration in the Health Travel Guides  Weight Loss Surgery Follow-Up Program
• Automatic registration in the Health Travel Guides referral program LAP-BAND with Health Travel Guides
• Automatic registration in the Health Travel Guides Patient Stories program *varies  according to procedure

The Endo-FLIP is not the only new weapon in the war on obesity.  The  gastric pacemaker by IntraPaceis said to create a feeling of fullness by means of regular electrical impulses.  in the recipient. A pill taken before meals that causes the stomach to puff up so that less food can fit into it sounds almost Willy Wonka-esque, while the device designed to slow the movement of food out of the stomach makes me think of the stomach as a Salvatore Dali lunar dreamscape, where the stomach is full of melting clocks. 

Tubes that line the inside of the small intestine, letting food slide through without being absorbed - giving the food a ride out of the body in the same manner as a body slides down the the water slide at SplashTown - closes this essay  reminding us that it's summer time, the time of water slides and bathing suits, and the devices that sounds bizarre today may be the devices we rely on tomorrow to save us from our increasingly overweight selves!  

Fill out any of the forms on the Boomer's Abroad site to talk to a Case Manager and see if you qualify for the Green Zone LAP-BAND or Green Zone Gastric Plication.  Tell them Boomer's sent you!