What is the Gastric Band?
Gastric banding, or more commonly known as lap band surgery, was one of the most popular weight loss surgeries. It is less invasive than other bariatric surgeries, because no incisions are made to either the stomach or the intestines. This procedure is reversible and thus carries less early complications. Restrictive obesity surgery reduces the amount of food consumed at one time, so you will feel full for longer. Therefore, you will eat less and lose weight. The amount of weight loss with gastric banding depends on the patients’ motivation and commitment to a new lifestyle and healthy eating habits. Gastric banding can help you achieve longer lasting weight loss by limiting the amount of food intake.
How it works?
The surgeon uses keyhole surgery (which involves small cuts in the belly) to place an adjustable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach. Squeezed by the silicone band, the stomach becomes a pouch with about an inch-wide outlet. After banding, the stomach can hold only about an ounce of food. The band can be filled from a little port placed under the skin to allow the passage of just a small amount of food. Unlike gastric bypass surgery, gastric banding does not interfere with food absorption. For this reason, vitamin deficiencies are rare after gastric banding.
What is the procedure?
In this procedure the surgeon places an adjustable, low-pressure gastric band around the upper part of the stomach, giving it an hourglass shape and creating a second smaller stomach. A narrow passage between the upper, smaller stomach and the rest of the stomach allows food and liquids to be passed through.
During meals, food quickly accumulates in the small upper pouch and slowly passes into the lower part of the stomach. The small pouch limits the amount of food that a patient can eat at one time and by reducing your hunger so that you don’t need to eat large portions to be satisfied. This slows digestion down, resulting in an early feeling of satiety or fullness. Therefore, you will feel fuller for longer and will eat less. In this procedure, the anatomy is not altered; resulting in the surgery being completely reversible. In addition, digestion and absorption take place completely in the digestive tract.
The band is adjusted with in-fills which are injections of saline (salt water) into the band through the port (attached on the abdominal muscle wall) which in turn shrinks the opening of the stomach. This is a quick and relatively painless procedure performed by your surgeon.
In restrictive procedures, patient cooperation is very important. After the procedure, you must follow the strict and specific dietary guidelines and behavioural modifications that your multidisciplinary team tells you, adapting to a new way of eating. If you do not follow the guidelines, you can stretch the stomach pouch and/or the narrowed opening between the two portions of it, thereby undoing the goal of the surgery.
What happens during a gastric band operation?
Before gastric band surgery you’ll be given a general anaesthetic. The gastric band is positioned via laparoscopy around the upper part of the stomach and divides the stomach into a small, upper pouch above the band and a larger pouch below the band. The procedure normally takes an hour
Your weight loss surgeon will make several small cuts in your stomach and insert a long, thin telescope with a light and camera lens at one end, called a laparoscope, through the cuts so that they can see inside.
Your surgeon will place the gastric band around the top part of your stomach to create a small upper pouch. The band is kept in place by folding some of your lower stomach over the band and stitching it to your upper stomach pouch.
Your gastric band is connected to an injection port just under your skin via a thin piece of tubing. Your surgeon will inflate the band with sterile fluid after your operation. The injection port allows your surgeon to inflate or deflate your gastric band and adjust the size of the opening from your upper to your lower pouch and this will control how quickly your pouch empties. Your surgeon will then close the cuts, usually with disposable stitches under your skin.
Benefits of Gastric Band surgery
Gastric band surgery helps you to accomplish long-term weight loss
Reduced patient pain, length of hospital stay and recovery period
As the adjustable gastric band does not alter the anatomy, the absorption of nutrients occurs as normal. Therefore, there is no vitamin or mineral deficiencies or other side effects associated with malabsorption
The adjustable gastric band can be easily removed, and the normal shape and structure of the stomach is easily restored
As the procedure is performed by laparoscopic surgery (‘keyhole’), patients recover quickly from the operation and only need a brief hospital stay (usually less than 24 hours)
The volume of the gastric band is adjustable, which means that the rate at which the stomach bag empties can be increased or reduced according to the situation and the needs of the patients.
