Gastric band surgery is a type of weight-loss surgery where the size of your stomach is reduced using an adjustable band so that you can only eat small meals.
The operation involves placing an adjustable band around the upper part of your stomach to create a pouch. This pouch fills up quickly and the food you eat then passes slowly through a narrow opening created by the band, into the lower part of your stomach. The food then passes normally through the rest of your digestive system. The size of the opening from the pouch determines how quickly food leaves your stomach and is adjusted by adding or removing fluid to/from the band.
A thin tube connects the band to an 'access port' that has been placed under the skin of your chest or below your ribs. The band is adjusted with a saline solution with a hypodermic needle four to six weeks after the operation, leaving time for the swelling caused by the surgery to settle down.
You are likely to have your band adjusted five or six times in the first year after your operation. This ability to adjust the band enables to customize your weight loss while minimizing adverse side effects.
Gastric band insertion is done as a laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery procedure involving 5-6 very small incisions while you are asleep under a general anaesthetic.
Provided you are well enough, you may be able to go home the same day of your operation. Otherwise, you will be required to stay overnight in hospital. Full recovery from a gastric band can take one to two weeks.
Unlike gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy surgery, the gastric band operation is reversible. The usual plan is for the gastric band to stay in place permanently so that you are more likely to lose weight and maintain any weight loss. However, the band can be removed at any time, but if you do have it removed, you are likely to regain weight.
On average, patients tend to lose up to 50% of their excess body weight with this procedure. It tends to be slower and lesser weight loss than with the gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy surgery.
Laparoscopic gastric band surgery is generally a very safe operation. Overall, there is a 5-10% risk of adverse effects and a 1 in 2,000 (0.05%) risk of death caused by having this operation. Up to one in 10 patients will need further surgery for these or other complications.
During surgery, the gastrointestinal tract anatomy is not altered, so the food ingested follows the normal course. This results in less chance of developing lack of vitamins and minerals.
Laparoscopic gastric band surgery is the least invasive among the three major bariatric procedures.
For further information regarding obesity or weight loss surgery, please contact Mr Sanjay Agrawal, Consultant Bariatric Surgeon at www.londonobesityclinic.co.uk or on telephone at 07876 618424.
Select a suggestion below...