Lap band surgery is a newer and quicker form of weight loss surgery. Unlike other bariatric surgeries lap band surgery does not involve stappling the stomach. Many people are more comfortable with a less invasive surgery unlike other weight loss surgery options. Adjustable gastric banding also means that food intake can be modified later on.
Using gastric banding the upper stomach size is reduced.
Following the lap band surgery the size of the gastric banding can be changed using a saline solution.
Lap band surgery has many advantages. First is the cost -- it is signifacntly cheaper than other methods. Additionally the gastric banding can be completely reversed unlike other methods. These advantages have caused the popularity of lap band surgery to grow recently.
Another very important advantage of lap band surgery is a much lower death rate -- The traditional gastric bypass death rate is somewhere around 1% where as gastric banding has a death rate under .1%.
Other complications may arise with lap band surgery. The most common are band slippage and tubing leakage. Both are around roughly 3%. Other complications include band erosion, port infection and very rarely (under 1%) stomach perforation.
Weight loss from gastric banding is not as immediate and may take up to 2 years. For those who are seeking more immediate and drastic weight loss lap band surgery may not be the ideal option.
Lap band surgery is a more popular form of weight loss surgery outside of the United States. While gastric banding does have a few downsides its lower risks may it a good alternative to other bariatric surgury.
Update 1/15/05: A new study by
Dr. Markus Weber, from University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland appears to indicate more long-term complications in gastric band surgery than in gastric bypass surgery. More info.
