Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding

The LapBand surgery is a procedure reducing how much food the stomach can hold. It is considered a restricted procedure. In this procedure, a silicone band is placed around the upper part of the stomach. As a result, the stomach is able to hold less food and it induces the feeling of satiety. The lapband is evaluated on an ongoing basis for gradual tightening of the lapband if necessary. By adding or removing saline, the lapband can be made tighter or looser.

The lapband surgery is minimally invasive, has the shortest operative time, and there is no need for vitamin and mineral supplementation. However, it requires placing a foreign object in the abdomen and has a slower weight loss and lower overall weight loss compared to other surgical techniques. Weight loss after surgery is about 50% of the excess body weight. Potential long-term complications include gastric prolapse, stomal obstruction, esophageal and gastric pouch dilations, gastric erosion and necrosis, and access port problems.

When performed by skilled surgeons, operative mortality rate is about 0.1%.