The Last Resort – A Gastric Band
For some people, weight loss just seems impossible. Many have tried everything; counting calories, exercise, supplements, prescriptions, but nothing seems to work. A gastric band is often the last resort for clinically obese people to achieve significant weight loss.
A gastric band is a surgical procedure that reduces the size of the stomach to produce weight loss. The idea behind banding the stomach is to restrict the amount of food that can enter the stomach, causing the person to feel full faster, eat less food, and in turn lose weight. There are two main forms of gastric banding: laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (which is the most commonly performed procedure), and vertical banded gastroplasty.
Laparoscopic gastric banding is one of the most common forms of weight loss surgery, second only to gastric bypass. The procedure is performed by a board certified surgeon, and involves an adjustable silicone band being laparoscopically inserted around the upper portion of the stomach. This silicone band restricts the stomach to about an inch wide, which is capable of holding about an ounce of food. The band can be adjusted by use of plastic tube that is installed just under the skin. A sterile salt-water saline solution can be injected, or removed, through this tube which either contracts or expands the band. This injection of saline allows the band to be tightened or loosened as needed.
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding has been shown to cause people to lose about forty percent of their excess body weight, although individual results do vary. This form of gastric banding is considered to be quite safe and has fewer occurrences of complications. The most commonly reported side effects of this procedure include nausea and vomiting, which is often remedied by adjusting the band. Less than ten percent of patients experience surgical complications, and the risk of serious complications, such as death is about 1 in 2,000 procedures.
Vertical banded gastroplasty is much less common than adjustable gastric banding and is only performed by about five percent of bariatric surgeons. This procedure involves a plastic band being installed around the stomach, and the stomach is then stapled above the band to form a small pouch. Vertical banded gastroplasty procedures typically do not yield the weight loss results of other procedures and have higher complication rates.
Gastric banding procedures do not hinder food absorption as gastric bypass surgery does. Vitamin deficiencies, and other nutritional complications are quite rare following banding surgery.
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