Gastric Banding surgery is a treatment for obesity. This is a ‘key hole surgery’ for placing gastric band on the top portion of the stomach. Gastric band is a silicone band inflatable and adjustable. Obese patients with body mass index more than 40 (body weight 80 to 200 Kg) are treated by gastric banding surgery.
The Gastric Banding surgery is performed by laparoscopy. First, a small opening is made near the belly button. Then the abdominal cavity will be filled with Carbon Dioxide gas and a small laparoscopic camera is introduced into abdomen through the hole.
Picture of inside of the stomach and the abdomen is send to a video monitor by the camera. Surgeon will view the pictures and perform the surgery with the help of long handled instruments. Additional incisions are made in the abdomen and the gastric band is placed around the stomach.
The function of the band introduced during the Gastric Banding surgery is to form a small pouch in the stomach. The pouch can hold only 1/6 of what stomach can take.
The brain will then get the message that the stomach is full and intake food gets reduced. The patient will feel full stomach with less quantity of food and intake of food gets reduced. This leads to loss of weight.
The long stay of the band in the body will not cause bad effect as the band is made of materials accepted by the body. A very short hospital stay only is required for the Gastric Banding surgery. Faster recovery from the effects of surgery is possible. Patient can return to normal routine quickly.
Post surgical patients will be given only liquid diet initially. This will be followed by soft food before solid food is allowed. The time of diet control depends on the condition the patient. The success of Gastric band surgery depends on proper post surgical diet and care.
Laparoscopic Gastric band surgery is not suitable to all obese persons. Persons with complicated medical problems and previous abdominal surgery are not recommended for Gastric band surgery. Open surgery will be required for such persons.
Weight loss after Gastric band surgery will vary. Weight loss will be between 500 gms to 1 Kg in the first few weeks. Rapid loss is observed in the first year after the surgery. On an average the weight loss per annum will be 20 to 40 kgs.
Periodical adjustment of band will be required for success of Gastric band surgery. This can be done only after test in the hospital. The first adjustment will generally be done after 4 to 6 weeks of Gastric band surgery. The adjustments require only few minutes and no additional surgery.
The Gastric band surgery is generally considered a successful way to counter the obesity as complications are reported only rarely.
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