Weight Loss Surgery
Adjustable Gastric Band
Realize Adjustable Band &
LAP-BAND® System
Obesity Solutions, which has performed more than 200 adjustable gastric band (AGB) surgeries since 2005, uses two types of bands: the LAP-BAND® System and the Realize™ Band. You can talk with our surgeons about which AGB weight loss surgery might be best for you.
How Adjustable Gastric Bands Work
Gastric banding places a ring around the upper part of your stomach to form a small pouch that can hold only about ½ cup of food, so you feel full faster. The adjustable ring also creates a small opening that slows the passage of food from the small upper pouch to the rest of the stomach and intestines, making you feel full longer. As a result, with the right choices by you, your body helps you lose weight and keep it off.
Minimally Invasive Surgery
The surgery to place the gastric band around the stomach is usually performed laparoscopically (using special instruments that need only very small incisions). The band is fastened around the upper stomach like a tiny belt to create the stomach pouch.
With no cutting, stapling or stomach re-routing, the AGB procedure is considered the least traumatic of all weight loss surgeries. The smaller, less invasive incisions of the laparoscopic approach also reduce post-operative pain, shorten your hospital stay, and offer quicker recovery. Gastric banding can also be removed, and generally the stomach returns to its original form. However it is intended to be permanent and removing it will result in regaining the weight.
In about a week, you should be able to return to work, if it's not physically demanding. Some patients return to work sooner if they do not have any physical requirements of their job duties.
For more answers to specifics about the hospital stay and recovery, go to the FAQs.
It’s Adjustable
Because your needs can change as you lose weight, so can the diameter of both the Realize™ Band and the LAP-BAND® System. On the inner side of the bands, an inflatable ring can be filled with different levels of saline through a tube that runs to a port below your skin placed there during your surgery, generally right below your rib cage. The port cannot usually be seen even as you lose weight. But your surgeon can easily find it to add or remove saline as needed using a fine-needle syringe during simple outpatient visits.
This customizable weight-loss option allows for lifestyle situations, such as if a patient later becomes pregnant, she can expand her band to accommodate a growing fetus and nursing baby. Or patients who aren't experiencing significant weight loss can have their bands tightened.
Adjustment Visits
AGB patients generally require follow-up visits every 6 to 8 weeks the first year, during which your band may be adjusted. When the band is initially placed, no saline is injected. At your second follow-up, about 6 weeks after your surgery, the first adjustment will be made to your band. These adjustments may be necessary as long as you have your gastric band.
Results from Adjustable Gastric Banding
The bands are designed to help you lose weight at a natural and healthy rate, about 1 to 2 pounds per week, with the goal of long-term, steady loss.
In a clinical study done two to three years after surgery, AGB patients had lost an average of about 36-38% of their excess weight. Our LAGB patients average 60% of excess body weight loss at 18 months post-surgery. Though you may never reach your ideal weight, you will likely improve your health, along with your self-image, if you make the choices to support what your surgery is helping your body do — lose weight.
Lifetime Commitment & Dietary Changes
Adjustable gastric banding helps you lose weight by limiting how much you can eat, reducing your appetite, and slowing digestion. But choices that can drastically affect your success are still up to you. The weight loss surgery makes it easier for you to follow healthy habits, but it will not solve your morbid obesity by itself.
Generally right after surgery, you will start with clear fluids, progress to full liquids, then slowly to soft foods as you tolerate them without nausea or vomiting. In the first few weeks, your focus will be on allowing your stomach to adjust to the gastric band rather than losing weight. For a month or more, you may be eating only pureed, soft foods.
As you progress to a normal diet, you will find some foods, like bread, red meat, rice, and pasta may be difficult or impossible to tolerate. "Softer" foods, such as chicken, pork, and fish, can be much easier to handle and therefore more enjoyable to eat. You will also find smaller, well-chewed bites more enjoyable. Again, the procedure makes it easier to make healthier choices, but the choices are still yours. You can still be tempted to eat between meals or eat high-calorie foods and sweets, but gastric banding will dampen your desire because you will feel full longer if you choose the right foods at meals.
If you do not follow these precautions, you may have vomiting, stomach irritation, and swelling. You could also have stomach obstruction. Your choices and commitment, especially in the first few months, will keep your stomach pouch from enlarging through filling it with too much or by overeating and vomiting.
Advantages
Compared to other weight loss surgeries, gastric banding:
• Can be reversed (though weight will likely be regained)
• No stomach stapling or cutting, or intestinal re-routing
• Lowest mortality rate
• Adjustable to suit life changes, such as pregnancy
• Least invasive surgical approach
• No risk of severe nutritional deficiencies, because the organs remain intact
Disadvantages
• Slower initial weight loss than with gastric bypass
• Less overall weight loss on average than with gastric bypass
• Requires greater patient commitment because it does not inhibit eating sweets, fatty foods or between meals
• Regular follow-ups are critical for optimal results
• Requires an implanted medical device
• In some cases, effectiveness can be reduced due to band slippage
• In some cases, the access port may leak and require minor surgery
Risks
All surgical procedures have risks, and they are real, but the risk of serious complications from gastric banding is quite low. The risk of complications following gastric band surgery is similar to the risks following any major surgery on your digestive tract. Morbidly obese patients face added risks because of their body size.
Complications (reported from the LAP-BAND U.S. Clinical study and/or Realize Band literature): • Death • Gastric/ Esophageal Perforation • Nausea and vomiting • Complications due to anesthesia and medications • Bleeding • Pain • Shoulder pain • Deep vein thrombosiss • Stroke or Heart Attack • Gastroesophageal reflux • Band slippage • Ulceration • Heartburn • Pouch dilatation • Stoma obstruction • Esophageal dilatation or dysmotility • Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) • Required follow-up surgery for band problem or to fix leak or flipped port • Erosion resulting in removal of the band • Esophagitis • Gastritis • Blood Clots/ Pulmonary embolism • Pneumonia • Infection • Injury to stomach or spleen • Gallstones • Abdominal hernia • Chest pain • Collapsed lung • Constipation or diarrhea • Dehydration • Enlarged heart • Gastrointestinal inflammation or swelling