What is The Adjustable Gastric Band
The adjustable gastric band is a soft silicone band that can be placed around the top of the stomach in order to make the useful capacity of your stomach go down from several hundred ml to may be only 20 ml or so.
The Adjustable Gastric Band is also known or referred to as a LapBand or gastric band
How does the Gastric Band work?
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It is placed via keyhole surgery. This means that you need a general anaesthetic, and several very small incisions are made around your abdomen. Through these your surgeon is able to pass 4 thin tubes into your abdominal cavity. He is then able to pass a series of very sophisticated fine cameras and instruments through these tubes, in order to perform your operation without making a large incision.
In experienced hands, the operation can be performed in less than 45 minutes. Most patients stay in hospital for one night.
Attached to the silicone band is a fine soft silicone tube. At the time of your operation, your surgeon brings this tube through most of your abdominal wall from the inside. To the end of this tube is attached a small port or well.
This is fixed under your skin and allows your surgeon to inject or remove very small amounts of sterile saline into your band system. In doing this, he is able to adjust the amount of restriction that your band is placing around your stomach. This means that he can create more restriction if you are not losing weight. Alternatively, he can relax your band a little if you are having problems getting any food down.
The adjustable gastric band has been used in hundreds of thousands of patients throughout the world over many years, and has been shown to be:-
- Safe
- Effective
- Well tolerated by patients
- Easily reversed if necessary
- Does not require any “proper” surgery to the stomach or intestines themselves. The whole of the gut remains intact with no artificial cuts or joins that might result in post-operative complications.
- The Gastric Band is associated with few complications in experienced hands
However, the whole point of the adjustable gastric band is to severely restrict the patient’s capacity to eat. This means that, from the day the band is placed, the patient is going to have to adopt a very different eating pattern. Meals are going to be small, although most patients are able to eat normal types of food.
Some patients find this adjustment to their eating habits easier to make than others. Some even try to get around their band by drinking very high calorie sweet or fatty drinks. Liquidised Mars Bars is an often quoted example!!
Clearly, such patients are unlikely to lose weight. These patients require much more intensive support or dietary advice. This is often what is missing from band providers in the UK. However, it is a strong aspect of the work of The National Obesity Surgery Centre.
So, the adjustable gastric band has more than come of age as the current treatment of choice for patients with significant weight problems, who have found it impossible to lose weight, and much more importantly, maintain that loss in the long term.
