The System :: The Procedure :: How We Do It :: Post Op :: Adjustments

The Gastric Band surgery is a safe, effective weight loss solution with FEWER COMPLICATIONS than stomach stapling or Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RNY) procedures.

For instance, the complications associated with the RNY Gastric Bypass include:

• Disruption of the staple line forming the proximal stomach pouch
• Stomach or bowel leakage
• Long-term nutrients and vitamins deficiencies
• "Dumping syndrome"

These complications result from cutting and stapling the stomach and bypassing (shorting or rerouting) the small bowel.

The Gastric Band surgery, on the other hand, requires NO STAPLING OR CUTTING of the stomach, so there's no staple line to increase the chances for complications and it allows us to easily ADJUST the amount of food a patient can eat without the need for further surgery. (The RNY procedure can't be adjusted, even in cases where additional nutrition is required such as during pregnancy or severe illness.)

The Gastric Band surgery is performed LAPAROSCOPICALLY (with a camera) using small incisions rather than one large incision. Even though the gastric bypass can be done laparoscopically, the gastric band procedure is considered the least traumatic of all the operations for severe obesity.

The Gastric Band AVOIDS IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE to the stomach and bowel anatomy, and if for any reason it needs to be removed, the stomach generally returns to its original form. But the gastric bypass involves permanent cutting, bypassing or rearrangement of the digestive tract, which is tremendously difficult, risky and almost impossible to reverse.

Other gastric band advantages

• NO VITAMIN DEFICIENCIES associated with malabsorption of nutrition.
• NO "DUMPING SYNDROME" related to the reconfiguration of the digestive tract.
• REDUCED HOSPITAL STAY. Patients normally leave the hospital within 23 hours of the operation.
• QUICKER RECOVERY. After the procedure, patients usually resume normal activities within a week, if there are no complications.
• And most importantly, less chance of death than any other operation for severe obesity.
  

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