Nonsurgical Weight Loss Procedure Offers a Fresh Start on Life. Mary Keough Ledman recently had a nonsurgical weight loss procedure that ended up being truly life-changing: Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty. It helped her lose enough weight to stop diabetes and blood pressure medication. The weight loss also gave her the courage to tackle activities she wouldn’t have attempted before. For example, she and a friend hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. “When the opportunity arises to hike the Grand Canyon or Kilimanjaro, I don’t hesitate to say yes because I know my physical health isn’t going to hold me back,” she said. “There is no way I would have gone to Kilimanjaro had I not had this weight loss surgery.” Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is a minimally invasive weight loss procedure where a series of stitches placed through the stomach wall are used to reduce the stomach’s volume by 80%. Reducing stomach volume reduces the amount of food and liquid the stomach can hold at one time and helps people lose weight by taking in fewer calories than their body uses in a day. “There’s no surgery, no scars, less pain and a quicker recovery,” said Michael B. Ujiki, MD, a general and bariatric surgeon with NorthShore University HealthSystem. Learn more about endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty at NorthShore University HealthSystem.Northshore.org/esq