Who can share with me their Laparoscopic Stomach Banding sucess/failure stories?

Question

I am seriously considering this surgery and have read lots about it but I want to hear from real people who have had this done.

Answer 1

WOW...40%.. you are soooo wrong. You are not quoting statistics about banding, perhaps you have this procedure confused with gastric bypass...

Okay, now for the real facts;

There are very few reliable sources out there on Gastric Banding complications except the series that are published in the medical literature. My colleagues that post on these forums will agree that my team and I are considered one of the foremost authorities in gastric banding complications and treatments in the world and as such our intention is that our ongoing research results in a safer gastric banding procedure for everybody.

Folks, Lets start out by doing the math. Band erosions are not increasing as one would think. They have actually diminished noticeably in the past number of years. What is increasing is the number of patients having the procedure along with the ability to communicate this fact through forums such as this one. A surgeon that has performed 100 procedures may have 1% erosion, which is equivalent to 1 patient. While a surgeon with 3000 procedures under his belt will have 30 erosions, but this still represents 1%. Also the awareness of it's existence has prompted us to look for them purposely through endoscopic studies.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?p=162590

You can see statistics specific to certain doctors at;

http://www.obesitylapbandsurgery.com/cost.html

Some other things to consider:

Infection
There have been a few cases of deep infection in the abdomen leading to removal of the band. There have also been some infections of the port system leading to removal of the port. Sterility during injection is obviously of great importance in order to minimize or avoid this complication.

Port Problems
There have been port problems in about 4% of the cases. There have been two types of problems. The first is dislocation of the port. It may move around, turn up-side-down and can in this position not be injected. It is thus necessary to adjust it. This is a simple operation in local anesthesia but nevertheless a nuisance to the patient. The second problem is perforation of the connecting tube close to the port. Some patients have extra fat over the chest and it is therefore sometimes difficult to hit the ”bulls eye”with the needle and the tube may be accidentally perforated. This leads to loss of fluid, widening of the opening and subsequent weight gain. This is also corrected in local anesthesia. The port is brought to the surface, a bit of the tube including the hole is cut off, and the remaining tube is reattached to the port and finally the port returned into position. The design of the system has because of this problem been changed. The distal 2 cm of the tube is now covered with a protective sleeve in order to avoid this problem.

The most important thing is not really the surgery itself. This is very straightforward and simple. The factor determining final outcome is the post-op. follow-up and patient compliance. The patient has to work with the band, listen to it and behave accordingly. Patients who fight the band are not doing as well as those who are compliant.

What is the true success rate without any complications?
About 85-90%. There are three reasons for failure. First, patient-related reasons: Some patients go over to liquid high-calorie diet (cream, ice-cream, chocolate etc.). Second, band failure (leakage, breaking etc.). Third, placement failure or dislocation of the band (slippage, pouch dilatation, wrong initial placement = surgeon error)

So, only you can decide if the benefits outweigh (yeah, I see the pun there..) the risks. Only you know if you are ready and able to commit to the type of lifestyle you will need to commit to for this to work.

Whatever you decide, I wish you health!

Answer 2

40% have serious complications that require hospitalization in the first year. Of two people that I personally know one did OK and the other (her sister) had serious complications.


Addition:
dr is right, I was thinking of gastric bypass surgery