A weight-loss surgery known as laparoscopic gastric band may be an option for individuals struggling to lose weight through diet and exercise. Laparoscopic gastric band surgery, or lap-band surgery, involves placing a hollow band around a small portion of the upper stomach. Lap-band surgery helps people sustain weight loss by limiting food intake, reducing appetite and slowing digestion, according to the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.
Procedure
Individuals undergoing lap-band surgery will receive general anesthesia prior to surgery, to make them unconscious and unable to feel pain. The surgery is performed with a tiny camera, called a laparoscope, which is placed in the person’s stomach. The laparoscope allows the surgeon to see everything on a video monitor in the operating room.
The surgeon begins by making two to five incisions in a patient’s stomach so he can pass the laparoscope through one of these openings. Looking at the video monitor to see inside the stomach, the surgeon will insert thin surgical instruments through the other openings.
Next, the surgeon will place a lap-band around the upper part of the stomach to separate it from the lower part, creating a small pouch. The small pouch has a narrow opening extending into the large, lower part of the stomach.
Mechanism
The small stomach pouch the adjustable lap-band controls the amount of food people consume, according to MedlinePlus. Only a small amount of food can pass through the pouch, which delays the emptying of the stomach into the intestines. Lap-band surgery usually makes people feel fuller sooner, and over time their hunger subsides, according to the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.
Advantages
Lap-band surgery is a minimally invasive surgical option, involving no major cutting or stapling of the stomach wall or bowel. Instead, a few small incisions are made in the stomach wall, causing only minimal scarring. The lap-band is also adjustable, allowing for an individualized degree of restriction, promoting ideal, long-term weight loss, according to the University of California, San Diego Medical Center. The procedure takes approximately 40 minutes and usually requires no hospital stay.
Risks and Complications
The University of California, San Diego Medical Center states the most significant post-operative risk of lap-band surgery involves an alteration in the size of the stomach pouch. The pouch can enlarge due to either the slippage of the band or stretching of the wall of the pouch. Other post-operative risks and complications listed on the University of California, San Diego Medical Center website include band leakage, erosion of the band into the stomach, blockage of the stomach outlet and gastritis, while the Cleveland Clinic also listed nausea, vomiting and gastroesophageal reflux as other complications.
Prognosis
Individuals’ success with lap-band surgery depends on their personal motivation, commitment and healthy eating habits, according to the University of California, San Diego Medical Center. Although the final weight loss with lap-band surgery is not as large as with gastric bypass, people will lose roughly 40 to 50 percent of their excess weight over two years, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Losing this amount of weight can improve peoples' medical conditions, such as asthma, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnea, high cholesterol and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
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