Rounding at Rush

Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is a novel, outpatient endoscopic approach to treat obesity. Without using permanent anatomical alterations, clinicians who incorporate ESG into their care suture the inside of the stomach as a way of reducing the stomach’s volume down to the size of a banana, allowing patients to get full faster. In the continuum of weight loss therapies, including medication and surgery, ESG is a viable approach for patients looking for a minimally invasive approach to achieve their weight loss goals.

Christopher Chapman, MD, is a gastroenterologist at RUSH University Medical Center whose expertise is in interventional and bariatric endoscopy, with a focus on providing patients minimally invasive approaches in their care.

“Surgery is a very effective therapy, but is more invasive. Pharmacotherapy, at least before the introduction of GLP-1s, was minimally invasive, but also wasn't as effective [as surgery]. Endoscopy [such as ESG] is in the middle of being a little bit more invasive, but also more effective than medications.”