The Lap-Band® System

Gastric Restriction Procedure Laporoscopic Adjustible Gastric Banding

View Animation Animation courtesy of Ethicon Endosurgery - a Johnson & Johnson Company

The Mary Washington Hospital Weight Loss Surgery Center routinely uses the LAP-BAND® Gastric Banding System. The LAP-BAND® System is an adjustable gastric band designed to help you lose excess body weight, improve weight-related health conditions and enhance quality of life. It reduces the stomach capacity and restricts the amount of food that can be consumed at one time.  
 
The name “LAP-BAND” comes from the surgical technique used, laparoscopic, and the name of the implanted medical device, gastric band. The LAP-BAND® System is a silicone ring designed to be placed around the upper part of the stomach and filled with saline on its inner surface.

This creates a new, smaller stomach pouch that can hold only a small amount of food, so the food storage area in the stomach is reduced. The band also controls the stoma (stomach outlet) between the new upper pouch and the lower part of the stomach. When the stomach is smaller, you feel full faster, while the food moves more slowly between your upper and lower stomach as it is digested. As a result, you eat less and lose weight

Video animation of the LAP-BAND® procedure

Click the arrow to view the video animation.

The Minimally Invasive Procedure 
During the procedure, our surgeons usually use laparoscopic techniques (making tiny incisions rather than a large incision and inserting long-shafted instruments through “ports”), to wrap the LAP-BAND® System around the patient’s stomach. A narrow camera is passed through a port so the surgeon can view the operative site on a nearby video monitor. Like a wristwatch, the band is fastened around the upper stomach to create the new stomach pouch that limits and controls the amount of food you eat. The band is then locked securely in a ring around the stomach. 

Adjustable Weight Loss
Once placed around the stomach, tubing connects the LAP-BAND® to an access port fixed beneath the skin of your abdomen.

This allows the surgeon to change the stoma (stomach outlet) size by adding or subtracting saline, or salt water, inside the inner balloon through the access port. This adjustment process helps determine the rate of weight loss. If the band is too loose and weight loss is inadequate, adding more saline can reduce the size of the stoma to further restrict the amount of food that can move through it. If the band is too tight, the surgeon will remove some saline to loosen the band and reduce the amount of restriction.

The diameter of the band can be modified to meet your individual needs, which can change as you lose weight. For example, pregnant patients can expand their band to accommodate a growing fetus, while patients who aren’t experiencing significant weight loss can have their bands tightened.

The LAP-BAND® System Advantages

Minimal Trauma

• Small incisions and minimal scarring
• Reduced patient pain, length of hospital stay and recovery period

Fewer Risks and Side Effects

• 10 times less operative and short-term mortality than gastric bypass!
• Less risk of nutritional deficiencies than gastric bypass
• Reduced risk of hair loss
• No “dumping syndrome” related to dietary intake restrictions

Adjustable

• Allows individualized degree of restriction for ideal rate of weight-loss
• Adjustments performed without additional surgery
• Supports pregnancy by allowing stomach outlet size to be opened to accommodate increased nutritional needs

Reversible

• Removable at any time
• Stomach and other anatomy are generally restored to their original forms and functions

Effective Long-Term Weight Loss

• More than 300,000 LAP-BAND® System devices placed worldwide
• Standard of care for hundreds of surgeons around the world
• #1 selling adjustable gastric band for weight loss
• Academic publications with up to 10 years of follow-up

1. Executive summary: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding for the treatment of obesity (Update and Re-appraisal). The Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures - Surgical (ASERNIPS) 2002; 1. (Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery, like the LAP-BAND® surgery, is associated with a mean short-term mortality rate of around 0.05% compared to 0.50% for Gastric Bypass and 0.31% for Vertical Banded Gastroplasty.)

Additional things to consider about the Lap-Band System

• The band may erode into the stomach wall or slip.
• Weight loss is slower than that following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Lap Band Ready Checklist
The activities and resources in this checklist will help you navigate your way to a successful surgery day and beyond.
Lap Band Checklist

Disclaimer:
As with any surgery, there are specific risks and possible complications associated with the LAP-BAND® System surgery. If you have specific questions about the surgery or system we suggest you arrange for a consult with one of Weight Loss Surgery Physicians at Mary Washington Hospital.