|
International Physician Update
A Reversible Obesity Procedure
While gastric bypass can be done through small incisions with great success, it’s not the easiest operation to reverse. Should the patient want his or her natural-size stomach back, the patient would have to undergo open abdominal surgery. Also, some patients would just rather not have their stomach stapled. But another technique, called the lap-band, is an alternative.
“It’s something,” says surgeon Michael Schweitzer, “that’s a bit more
reversible.”
Schweitzer explains that this procedure involves placing a silicone band around the upper part of the stomach to create a small stomach pouch. The lower, larger part of the stomach is still connected to this upper pouch through a small outlet, allowing food to pass, but more slowly. Patients feel fuller longer. Also, the band, which is connected by tubing to a reservoir placed under the skin during surgery, can be adjusted for individual weight-loss needs after the operation. A physician simply injects or withdraws saline, tightening or loosening the band, using a fine needle through the skin to the reservoir.
But, Schweitzer warns, unlike gastric bypass surgery, the lap-band won’t reduce appetite-enhancing hormones that accompany weight loss. That helps to explain why the average weight loss two years after gastric bypass is 60 percent to 75 percent; for lap-band, it is 33 percent to 50 percent.
“It’s an easier operation,” Schweitzer says, “but it’s not for everyone.”
|
