Just what is a Gastric Band???

I have been chatting with a few people over the past month or so and the question that seems to be the most problematic for me to describe is what the actual gastric band looks like and how does it work.


I have taken some images and words from one of the Monash Uni Centre for Obesity Studies pages which describes gastric bands.
(Source: http://www.core.monash.org/lapband.html )



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The photo shows a standard LapBand made by Inamed Health. It consists of a ring of silicone which is placed around the very top of the stomach. On the inner surface of the ring is a balloon which is connected via a long thin tube to an access port which is buried deep under the skin just above and to the left of the umbilicus. If we pass a fine needle through the skin into the acess port we can inject saline into the balloon causing it to swell up and thus tighten on the stomach wall. This will give the patient a sense of satiety or lack of hunger. Even if they have not been eating they will feel less hunger and less interest in food. If the band is adjusted optimally, there is almost no interest in food or appetite for eating. When they do eat they quickly get a sense of fullness and do not feel inclined to eat more. The net result is that they eat 3 or less very small meals per day and feel quite satisfied with that.

These four pictures show two of the Lap Band models – the 10cm band and the VG or Vanguard band. They show them without additional saline and with added saline so that you can see the effect of adding salaine has on the space available in the middle.

The Lap Band is placed laparoscopically – keyhole surgery. Thin tubes are passed through the skin into the abdominal cavity. A telescope is passed down one of these tubes. It has a very high definition camera attached and the surgeon can see what he is doing by looking at the image on a television monitor rather than looking directly inside the patient.

The adjustments are performed in the office and generally only take a few minutes. Apart from a quick jab of the needle through the skin there is no particular discomfort.

Tags: Surgery Obesity weight+loss Personal Diet Lap+Band Journey Scales

Study: Gastric band works better than 500-calorie diet

Study: Gastric band works better than 500-calorie diet
by Nanci Hellmich / USA TodayMay 2, 2006

Adjustable gastric banding is much more effective long-term than a very low-calorie diet for people who are about 50 pounds overweight, a study shows.

Medical guidelines support this surgical procedure -- which puts a band around the top of stomach to create a feeling of fullness -- in patients who are extremely obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, or those who are almost as overweight and have serious medical conditions, such as
type 2 diabetes .

Researchers at Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia, recruited 80 patients who were on average 52 pounds over a healthy weight. Half had the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery.The other half followed a medical program that included a variety of strategies such as a very-low-calorie diet (500 calories a day) with liquid meal replacements, prescription weight-loss medication and behavioral therapies.

Findings in today's Annals of Internal Medicine:

• After six months, both the surgery patients and the low-calorie dieters lost an average of 14% of their starting weight.
• After two years, the gastric band patients lost 22% of their starting weight. That was about 87% of their excess weight, or roughly 45 pounds.
• They also showed marked improvement in their health and quality of life.
  At the end of two years, the dieters had regained much of their lost weight but were still 5.5% below their starting weight.
• They had lost 22% of their excess weight, or about 12 pounds.

Researchers are still analyzing the weight-loss data. "I'm very happy that the gastric band patients are continuing to maintain their weight loss," says lead author Paul O'Brien, director of the university's Centre for Obesity Research and Education.

Since the study, he received grants from INAMED Health, maker of the LAP-BAND® System.

In this study, the surgery was as safe as the diet program, but O'Brien notes the procedure does carry risks, and some may need follow-up procedures, such as readjusting the band position.

The surgery costs $14,000 to $18,000 in the USA, he says. Insurance companies vary widely in coverage of gastric banding or gastric bypass, a more complex surgery that creates a much smaller stomach and rearranges the small intestine. Average cost: $26,000.

Under certain conditions, Medicare covers both surgeries.Many surgeons in the USA use gastric bypass because bypass patients lose more weight overall and lose it faster, says Neil Hutcher, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and a surgeon in Richmond, Va.

Thomas Wadden, an obesity expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, says gastric banding "is a very effective procedure, but it's not a rational, cost-effective solution to the epidemic of obesity." "Because we have limited health-care dollars, we have to decide how best to invest them. Are we going to provide bariatric surgery for a relatively small number of people or instead invest in the prevention of obesity so our children hopefully won't need this surgery?"

Copyright © 2006 USA Today. All rights reserved. Republished with permission.

A View From Over The Scales agrees that surgery of any sort should be a last resort and not seen as a quick fix. There is an obesity epidemic, and as such should be dealt with as an early intervention by educative means. To date there is precious little real effort by governments and if the platitudes continue, it will be too late.




Tags: Surgery Obesity weight+loss Personal Diet Lap+Band Journey Scales

Stability in Glucose readings YAYYYY

Yet again the pictures tell the story.

There is some comfort in the knowledge that things are working well. I am starting to work out what foods are doing what, but the biggest thing is the need to eat at regular times. If I don't, it just sends things a bit haywire..

But, all is good. I have been feeling really good of late, with added energy (due to weight loss??? or not).

Anyway, back to the grindstone...

Tags: Surgery Obesity weight+loss Personal Diet Lap+Band Journey Scales

Ongoing success... and food for thought

It has been a bit of time since I last blogged, and for those who have emailed to prompt me to do so, here is the latest iteration.

It seems like i have now stabilised my glucose levels and I never cease to be amazed at what my body reacts to and how it relates to BSL. I was expecting to wake this morning to a higher than usual reading after a nice dessert last night at the sauna dinner. This was not the case. Stranger and stranger..

Not to worry, all is good. I have decided to work towards a late January timeframe for my gastric band surgery. I could have gone just before christmas, but I really was not enamoured with the idea of not having people (doctors etc) around during the holiday week and early in the new year. I now need to get the endocrinologist on board with the surgeon to make sure that I am properly monitored pre and post operatively. It is just a complication (without much risk at all) that needs to be considered.

Apart from that all has been good on the home front, but I have had a few issues of concern raise their heads within my family. These things, albeit best case scenario given the discoveries, are in the forefront of my mind. I know things will turn out for the best, but one cannot help worrying when it is some one who you love. It just tends to focus you on the important things, the things that matter.










Tags: Surgery Obesity weight+loss Personal Diet Lap+Band Journey Scales