Methods for performing bariatric surgery using gastric sizing systems and instruments

A method of sizing the stomach of a patient for a bariatric procedure, the stomach of the patient having a lesser curvature and a greater curvature, said method comprising:

• a) providing a non-expandable instrument for introduction into the stomach of the patient, said instrument comprising a sizing tube in the form of an elongated tubular member having a longitudinal axis extending along a length thereof, a hollow interior, a distal end portion and a proximal end portion, said distal end portion having a plurality of apertures disposed around the periphery of said sizing tube, said plurality of apertures extending along said longitudinal axis and with said apertures directed in a plurality of different radial directions from said longitudinal axis, said plurality of apertures being in fluid communication with said hollow interior of said elongated tubular member;
• b) introducing said sizing tube into the stomach of the patient in any orientation about said longitudinal axis so that said elongated tubular member extends along the majority of the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach and directly engages the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach, whereupon plural ones of said plurality of apertures face towards the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach irrespective of the particular orientation of said sizing tube about said longitudinal axis in the patient's stomach and with said plural ones of said plurality of apertures that face towards the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach extending along the lesser curvature of the patient stomach;
• c) connecting said sizing tube to a source of suction;
• d) applying controlled suction into the interior of the patient's stomach via (i) said plural ones of said plurality of apertures facing the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach and (ii) others of said plurality of apertures facing away from the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach to pull the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach into engagement with the portion of said sizing tube facing the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach and without any portion of said instrument engaging the greater curvature of the patient's stomach, and contemporaneously therewith said controlled suction applied via said others of said plurality of apertures pulls portions of the patient's stomach adjacent thereto towards portions of said sizing tube not facing the lesser curvature of the patient's stomach to anchor said sizing tube in place thereat in said any orientation about said longitudinal axis and without the use of any expandable member to hold said sizing tube in place and to produce a suction-created visually perceptible delineation line on the exterior of the patient's stomach along a portion of the periphery of said sizing tube facing the greater curvature of the patient's stomach;
• e) visualizing said suction-created visually perceptible delineation line with a laparoscope from outside of the patient's stomach;
• and
• f) maintaining said controlled suction onto said portions of the patient's stomach while laparoscopically sealing the patient's stomach adjacent said visually perceptible delineation line from the outside of the patient's stomach to form a permanent seal line while said sizing tube is anchored in place by the controlled suction applied via said ones of said plurality of apertures and said others of said plurality of apertures.