Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAP-BAND)

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, or lap banding, is a minimally invasive procedure that will help you lose weight by restricting the amount of food your stomach can hold to about one-third of your current food intake. It has been popular in Europe for over a decade and its popularity in the US is on the rise.

This laparoscopic procedure is performed with the aid of a miniaturized video camera and specialized surgical tools inserted inside your abdomen through a series of small incisions. During this procedure, a surgeon places a silicone band that contains an inflatable cuff around the upper portion of your stomach to create a small pouch. The small pouch created during this surgery functions as your new stomach. Patients who undergo a Lap-Band procedure usually stay in the hospital overnight and are able to return to work in a week

The inflatable cuff inside is attached to an injection port placed just underneath your skin. A surgeon can periodically adjust the tightness of the cuff during the weight loss process by using the injection port to add or remove small amounts of sterile saline. These adjustments can be done during brief office visits.

Because gastric banding does not involve bypassing portions of the intestine or otherwise permanently altering the gastrointestinal anatomy, it is associated with fewer post-surgical side effects and is the only procedure that is fully reversible.

Open Adjustable Gastric Banding

When performing an open gastric banding surgery, the surgeon makes a single incision about 7 to 10 inches in length in your upper abdomen. A gastric band that contains an inflatable saline cuff is placed around the upper part of your stomach and an injection port in placed under the skin of your chest or abdomen. Once the band and ports are placed, the surgeon closes the skin incision using stitches and staples. The open produced can take an hour or more to perform. If you undergo this procedure, plan to stay in the hospital for three days. You will likely need to wait 3-6 weeks, depending on the degree of physical activity involved in your job, before returning to work. This procedure, like any open surgery, places you at greater risk of wound healing problems, including infection and formation of a hernia near the incision area than the laparoscopic version of the procedure.